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ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY 



A REFERENCE BOOK 

FOR STUDENTS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY AND 

PROFESSIONAL AND LAY STUDENTS 

OF FORESTRY 



BY 



BERNHARD E. FERNOW, LL.D* 

Director of the New York State College of Forestry, in Cornell 

University; Late Chief, Division of Forestry, United 

States Department of Agriculture 



> 1 > , 



NEW YORK 

THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. 

PUBLISHERS 



THF LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Copies Reowvcb 

intC; 22 1902 

1 Cop*wowr wnrr 
bUfs* «^XX«l No. 
oorv b. 



Copyright, 1902, 
By THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. 



A 



Published December, 1902. 



Co ilftg jfrttnU 
EDWARD A. BOWERS 

TO WHOSE PERSISTENT, UNSELFISH AND UNOSTENTATIOUS 
EFFORTS, IN AND OUT OF OFFICE, IS SO LARGELY 

DUE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE 
FEDERAL FOREST RESERVATION POLICY 



EDITORIAL PREFACE. 

Some years ago I made a contract with Messrs. 
T. Y. Crowell & Co. for the editorship of certain 
volumes in their Library of Economics and Poli- 
tics, and among them the present work by Dr. 
Fernow was included. Although I have resigned 
my position as general editor of this Library, I 
am glad to accede to the request of the publish- 
ers to continue the original arrangement for this 
volume. 

RICHARD T. ELY. 



PREFACE. 

In this volume it is proposed to treat of for- 
ests and forestry from the standpoint of political 
economy. 

The statesman, the student of economics, as 
well as the layman who desires knowledge on 
these matters, is to find here such information 
as will enable him to form an intelligent view 
and a true estimate of the position which forests 
and forestry should occupy in our political house- 
hold, or rather the position which the community 
and governments should take with reference to 
their forest resources ; it is to furnish a trust- 
worthy basis for formulating public policy. At 
the same time it is hoped that this presentation 
of the subject will be acceptable to the growing 
number of professional foresters, assisting them 
in an intelligent survey of their art from a point 
of view outside of that of the technicist. 

Hitherto the questions arising in connection with 
the proper utilization of our forest resources and 
with forest preservation have, in the United States, 
been largely discussed in a popular way, mostly 
by amateurs and laymen, who were without a 

vii 



viii PREFACE. 

knowledge of the technical side of the subject; 
the professional economists who, only incidentally 
and sporadically, refer to the question have also, 
at best, possessed only a reading knowledge of the 
natural history of the forest and of the forester's 
art. As a result of this insufficient knowledge, 
these writings are only too frequently character- 
ized by one-sided arguments and a partisan atti- 
tude without sufficient basis in fact. 

Nor is there, as far as the writer knows, any 
book in the English language which attempts a 
full and systematic discussion of the subject in 
the manner in which it is to be treated here. This 
book, then, is not intended as a popular discus- 
sion, but proposes to supply a lack in the pro- 
fessional literature of economics in the English 
language ; in fact, even the Germans have with 
perhaps one exception not yet produced a publica- 
tion exactly analogous, as may be learned from 
the annotated index to the literature given in the 
Appendix. 

The main difference between the present vol- 
ume and other existing books may be found in the 
fact that not only the things which directly inter- 
est the economist' have been discussed, but also a 
more or less comprehensive exposition of the tech- 
nical details of the forester's art is given, which 
permits the forming of a judgment as to the condi- 
tions and limitations under which this art, or how 
much of it, can or must be practised. 



PREFACE. ix 

In discussing doubtful questions, the writer has 
endeavored to maintain a judicial spirit of inquiry, 
and to point out not only ideals, principles, and 
truths, but also practical limitations which prevent 
the attainment of the ideals. 

In order not to encumber the text too much, an 
appendix of notes, tables, and references has been 
added, which will assist in verifying conclusions 
drawn and give direction to those who desire to 
study further. 

To the unnamed friend who has kindly under- 
taken to revise the proof-sheets I desire to express 
my thanks. 

B. E. FERNOW. 

Ithaca, November, 1902. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Introductory : The Relation of the State to 

Natural Resources i 

CHAPTER II. 
The Forest as a Resource 21 

CHAPTER III. 
The Forest as a Condition 54 

CHAPTER IV. 
Forest and Forestry Defined . . . .81 

CHAPTER V. 

Factors of Forest Production and Business 

Aspects 106 

CHAPTER VI. 
Natural History of the Forest .... 140 

CHAPTER VII. 

Methods of Forest Crop Production: Silvi- 
culture 165 

xi 



xii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

PAGE 

Methods of Business Conduct: Forest Economy 197 

CHAPTER IX. 
Principles and Methods of Forest Policy . . 228 

CHAPTER X. 

Forest Policies of Foreign Nations . . . 274 

CHAPTER XI. 
Forest Conditions of the United States . -331 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Forestry Movement in the United States 369 



Appendix 413 

Bibliography 491 

Index 509 



ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY: THE RELATION OF THE STATE TO 
NATURAL RESOURCES. 

The natural resources of the earth have in all 
ages and in all countries, for a time at least, been 
squandered by man with a wanton disregard of the 
future, and are still being squandered wherever 
absolute necessity has not yet forced a more care- 
ful utilization. 

This is natural, as long as the exploitation 
of these resources is left unrestricted in private 
hands ; for private enterprise, private interest, 
knows only the immediate future — has only one 
aim in the use of these resources, namely, to ob- 
tain from them the greatest possible personal and 
present gain. 

Occasionally there may enter into its considera- 
tion a desire to prolong the source of profit, so 
that it may not only hold out during the lifetime 
of the individual, but continue flowing for his 
heirs ; or else other than business considerations 



2 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

may, for a while at least, preserve possible sources 
of profit from mismanagement, usually by mere 
non-use, much more rarely by conscious manage- 
ment for continuity. In most cases it will be 
found that the busy competition of the present 
has a destructive tendency and leads to wasteful 
methods, especially if the resources are large in 
comparison with the population and its needs. 
Density of population is the index of the intensity 
with which resources will be husbanded. Plenty 
breeds extravagance ; dearth breeds care. 

Thus in the United States, with its enormous 
resources in fields and forests and mines, which 
are open to the unrestricted, licentious use of a 
comparatively small population, the destruction of 
valuable material in the exploitation of these nat- 
ural riches, the careless and extravagant use of 
them, the neglect to which they are abandoned as 
soon as the cream is taken, are simply characteris- 
tic of all pioneering populations. With us, more- 
over, the pioneering stage fell into a period when 
the invention and development of railroad trans- 
portation intensified the disproportion of popula- 
tion and resources, opening up new territory and 
making virgin supplies available more rapidly than 
the needs of a resident population required, thus 
creating destructive competition in the attempts to 
profit from a non-intensive, rapacious exploitation 
and exportation. For, in the absence of a resident 
population to use the less valuable portions of the 



INTRODUCTORY. 3 

products, these had to go to waste, since only the 
best portions could bear the cost of transportation 
to distant centres of consumption. 

The amount of waste in materials, natural re- 
sources, and in energy, which this uneven settle- 
ment and development of the country has produced, 
has been enormous in all directions, and more espe- 
cially in fields and forests. The desire for a tangi- 
ble share in the wealth that can be derived by the 
exploitation of these resources, the greed of the 
individual, together with the unfavorable distribu- 
tion of population, have led to their careless and 
wasteful use. 

From the standpoint of the individual, that use 
of his opportunities which gives him greatest satis- 
faction in the present appears justifiable ; while 
society may incidentally benefit from his efforts in 
producing and distributing wealth, the individual, 
as a rule, cares little about that result of his activ- 
ity, nor does he care if the results of his endeavors 
are the opposite from beneficial to society, unless 
society itself step in and protect its interests. 

From the fact that within any aggregation of 
people inimical interests arise, that the interests 
of one set of individuals may clash with those 
of another set, or that the welfare of the whole 
may be jeopardized by the unrestricted exercise 
of the rights of the few, the necessity for the 
limitation of the rights of the members arises, 
which, as far as the exercise of property rights 



4 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

goes, finds expression in the old Roman law, "Utere 
tuo ne alterum noceas" namely, such use of the 
property as shall not entail damage to another 
party. 

This ancient restrictive principle, which is rec- 
ognized in all civilized states, was at first probably 
applied only to interferences between private inter- 
ests ; but finally the protection of the interests of 
the aggregation against those of the individual 
must have necessitated its application, whenever 
a communal interest would suffer by the unre- 
stricted exercise of individual rights. 

This restrictive function of the state, in addition 
to that of defending the aggregation against out- 
siders, will probably be admitted by all parties and 
schools as elementary and essential to the existence 
of the state. Divergence of opinion arises, how- 
ever, not only when additional, more positive, and 
directive functions are claimed for the state, — as, 
for instance, when the laissez-faire policy is to be 
supplanted by a faire-marcher promotive policy, — 
but also in the interpretation of the meaning of the 
terms of the mere restrictive function, when the 
question arises, what is to be considered damage 
and who the other is that is to be protected. 

The very nature of the modern civilized govern- 
ment-necessitates the very widest interpretation of 
these terms. Civilized states of to-day are intended 
and built for permanency ; they are not held to- 
gether by mere compacts of the single members of 



INTRODUCTORY. 5 

society, which may be broken at any time. While 
forms of government may change, the organization, 
the state idea, promises to be permanent. This con- 
ception of the permanency of the state, the realiza- 
tion that it is not a thing of to-day and for a limited 
time, but forever, widens its functions and extends 
its sphere of action ; for it is no longer to be re- 
garded as merely the arbiter between its present 
members, but it becomes the guardian of its future 
members ; government becomes the representa- 
tive, not only of present communal interests, as 
against individual interests, but also of future 
interests as against those of the present. Its 
object is not only for the day, but includes the 
perpetuity of the well-being of society, and the 
perpetuity of such favorable conditions as will con- 
duce to the continued welfare and improvement 
of the same ; in short, its activity must be with 
regard to continuity, it must provide for the fu- 
ture, it must be providential. We do not create 
this special providence for the individual, but for 
society ; the individual will have to work out his 
own salvation to a large extent, with the opportu- 
nities for advancement offered by society, but so- 
ciety itself can only act through the state ; and, 
as the representative of the future as well as the 
present, the state cannot, like the individual, "let 
the future take care of itself." In our present 
state activity and legislation there is as yet but 
little realization of its providential functions. Even 



6 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

the question of education, which in part provides 
for future improvement, is only imperfectly con- 
sidered from this point of view. The question of 
the franchise, as well as that of immigration, both 
of which are of the greatest influence upon the 
future composition and condition of our society, 
are much more often discussed with reference to 
the rights of present members than with reference 
to the future of society. 

The one condition of social life in which the 
action of the present influences the future almost 
more than in any other direction, namely, the con- 
dition of the means of material existence and their 
economical use (the economy of resources), has re- 
ceived perhaps the least recognition in practice as 
well as in theoretical discussion ; and especially is 
this absence of attention to this most important 
branch of economics noticeable in English litera- 
ture. 

The reason probably is that the need of careful 
analysis of this factor of social life has as yet not 
been pressing. But as the world has been explored 
in all corners and the extent of its resources has 
become more nearly known, and as it is being rap- 
idly peopled everywhere and the causes of depopu- 
lation are becoming less, the warnings of Malthus 
and Mill come home to us with new force ; and the 
study of the nature of resources, their relation to 
social life and development, and their economy, be- 
comes a most important branch of social science, 



INTRODUCTORY. J 

which will overshadow some of the other branches, 
now appearing all-important. When the questions 
of the extension of suffrage to women, of tariff, 
of taxation, of coinage and currency, which are 
all merely incidents, will have sunk into the back- 
ground, the question of the economy of the re- 
sources which constitute and sustain the political, 
commercial, and social power of the nation — long 
neglected — will still claim attention ; for only those 
nations who develop their natural resources eco- 
nomically, and avoid the waste of that which they 
produce, can maintain their power or even secure 
the continuance of their separate existence. A 
nation may cease to exist as well by the decay of 
its resources as by the extinction of its patriotic 
spirit. While we are debating over the best meth- 
ods of disposing of our wealth, we gradually lose 
our very capital without even realizing the fact. 
As Marsh 1 points out in his classical work, man 
is constantly modifying the earth and making it 
more and more uninhabitable ; he goes over its 
rich portions and leaves behind a desert. 

Whether we have a high tariff or no tariff, an 
income tax or a head tax, direct or indirect taxation, 
bimetallism or a single standard, national banks or 
state banks, are matters which concern, to be sure, 
the temporary convenience of the members of so- 
ciety, but their prejudicial adjustment is easily 

1 George P. Marsh, " The Earth as modified by Human Action," 
1874. 



8 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

remediable ; when ill effects become apparent, the 
inconveniences may be removed with but little 
harm to the community, and none to mankind at 
large or to the future. But whether fertile lands 
are turned into deserts, forests into waste places, 
brooks into torrents, rivers changed from means of 
power and intercourse into means of destruction 
and desolation — these are questions which concern 
the material existence itself of society ; and since 
such changes become often irreversible, the damage 
irremediable, and at the same time the extent of 
available resources becomes smaller in proportion 
to population, their consideration is finally much 
more important than those other questions of the 
day. Increase of population and increased require- 
ments of civilization call for a continual increase of 
our total economic forces, and increased " intensity " 
in the management of our resources ; and this re- 
quires such continued care and administration, that 
it is not safe to leave it entirely to the incentive of 
private competition, which always means wasteful 
use. 

It is true that as individuals the knowledge of 
the near exhaustion of the anthracite coal-fields 
does not induce any of us to deny ourselves a sin- 
gle scuttle of coal, so as to make the coal-field last 
for one more generation, unless this knowledge is 
reflected in increased price. But we can conceive 
that, as members of society, we may for that very 
purpose refuse to allow each other or the miner to 






INTRODUCTORY. 9 

waste unnecessarily. That this conception is not 
absurd, and may be practically realized without any 
strain in our conceptions of government functions, 
is proved by the fact that it has been carried out in 
practice in several cases, in our country as well as 
in others, without opposition. 

Absurdly enough we have begun such action with 
reference to our resources where it is perhaps of 
least consequence, as, for instance, when, by the 
establishment of hunting and fishing seasons and 
by other restrictions, we seek to prevent the exhaus- 
tion of the fish and game resources. This is a 
good illustration of the fact that emotion rather 
than reason, sentiment rather than argument, are 
the prime movers of society. It was only partially 
fear for the exhaustion of this readily restorable 
resource or economic reasons which led to this pro- 
tection of our fisheries and game, but love of sport 
gave the incentive. And again, it needed the love 
of sport to set on foot the movement for the im- 
provement of the roads in the United States, which 
the realization of true economy had not the power 
to bring about. 

While we do not prevent single individuals from 
ruining themselves financially and hazarding the 
future of their families, we do prevent associated 
portions of the community, — corporations, towns, 
and cities, — from jeopardizing their future by pre- 
venting them from extravagant expenditures and 
contracting of debts. This, too, is perhaps less 



10 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

designed for the future, than to protect present 
members against undesirable burdens. 

There are, then, enough precedents established 
to show that, whatever the greed and selfishness of 
the individual may dictate, society recognizes its 
right to interfere with the individual in the use 
of resources, not only for its present objects, but 
even for considerations of the future. 

To recognize how far — to what degree and in 
what manner — any of the resources must become 
objects of national concern, it is necessary to under- 
stand their relative significance for the present and 
for the future development of society or of the par- 
ticular aggregate of society called a nation. From 
this point of view resources may be classified under 
four heads, namely : — 

i. Resources inexhaustible. 

2. Resources exhaustible and non-restorable. 

3. Resources restorable, but liable to deteriora- 
tion under private activity. 

4. Resources restorable, yielding increased re- 
turns under increased activity. 

Of the first class, hardly any can be mentioned 
that are usually denominated as resources ; land, 
water, air, and the forces of nature would fall 
under this class, but since it is not so much these 
things themselves as the conditions in which they 
are found that make them resources, and since 
these conditions are alterable by human agency, 
their inexhaustibility with reference to human re- 



INTRODUCTORY. I I 

quirements is not entirely established. With the 
land it is rather the fertility of the soil that makes 
it a resource, except so far as it serves for building 
purposes. With the water, except for the absolute 
necessity of life, it is its desirable distribution — 
terrestrial and atmospheric — which constitutes it a 
resource in the sense of satisfying human wants. 

Of such resources as are in time exhaustible 
without the possibility of reproduction, we may 
mention the mines. The supply of coal, "the 
bread of industries," in Europe is calculated to 
last not more than three or four centuries, although 
scarcity is expected long before that time; and in 
our own country we are told that anthracite coal 
mines do not promise more than seventy-five to 
one hundred years of supply under present methods 
of working. 1 The silver and gold mines, upon the 
basis of which Nevada became a state, are said to 
show signs of exhaustion. Oil-fields and natural 
gas wells of very recent discovery belong to this 
class of exhaustible resources. With their con- 
sumption in satisfying our wants, they are de- 
stroyed forever. 

The timber of the virgin forest and its game, 
the water-power of the streams, largely dependent 
on the conditions of the forest, the fisheries, and 
to some extent the local climatic conditions, are 

1 The present output of the anthracite mines is 50,003,000 
tons, and the visible supply of the field is estimated at a little over 
5,000,000,000 tons. 



12 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

resources of the third order, capable in most in- 
stances of reproduction or restoration under human 
care, after having been deteriorated by uneconomic 
exploitation or by change of contingent conditions, 
as when brooks and rivers are lessened in volume 
or else filled with flood-waters and debris, in con- 
sequence of forest destruction. 

The extensive and absolute destruction of forest 
cover in Western Asia and portions of Eastern 
and Southern Europe has desolated vast regions 
and transformed them into lifeless deserts. Such 
rapine has sterilized almost beyond recovery the 
once highly productive regions of Sicily and Al- 
geria ; and in our own country we can point to 
similar results already apparent, as in Wisconsin, 
where over 4,000,000 acres have practically been 
turned into deserts, 1 in Mississippi, 2 and other por- 
tions of our domain, where erosion carries the fer- 
tile soil into rivers, occasioning, in addition to its 
loss, disturbance of favorable water stages and 
expenditures in river and harbor bills. 

Even climatic conditions, — a resource which we 
have hardly yet appreciated as such, — it seems, can 
be changed by mismanagement beyond recovery, 
as exemplified by the experience of France, where, 
it is asserted, the cultivation of the olive has be- 

1 See " Forestry Conditions and Interests of Wisconsin," Bulletin 
No. 16, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Forestry, 1898. 

2 See J W McGee, quoted in " Forest Influences," Bulletin No. 
7, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Forestry, 1894. 



INTRODUCTORY. 1 3 

come impossible in the northern departments, due 
to the removal of forest cover, which furnishes pro- 
tection against northern winds. 

Lastly, as resources restorable and yielding in- 
creased returns to increased activity, we would find 
most of those resources which are the product of 
human labor, industry, and ingenuity : the accu- 
mulated wealth, the accumulated educational fund, 
and other conditions of civilization, the people 
themselves, capable of performing labor. 

It might appear that, of the natural resources, 
the soil with its fertility, capable under intensive 
cultivation of increasing its yield, should be placed 
here ; but when this increased activity is unaccom- 
panied by rational method, this resource, too, will 
deteriorate almost to a degree where its restoration 
is practically precluded. 

Altogether, while possibility of restoration has 
served in our classification, the practicability of 
such restoration, i.e. the relation of expenditure 
of energy and money to the result, will have to be 
taken into consideration when state activity with 
regard to them is to be discussed. 

From yet another point of view we can distinguish 
between those resources, which yield directly a tan- 
gible material, necessaries or conveniences of life, 
serving the purposes of gain, and which are, there- 
fore, objects of industrial enterprise ; while others, 
though desirable and necessary, serving indirectly 
for the comforts of society, industry, and progress 



14 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

of civilization, do not call for the exertion of 
private enterprise and offer no incentive, or 
only an imperfect one, for private action, or are 
beyond the limits of control by private individ- 
uals. 

Thus, if there is the possibility of influencing 
climatic conditions by human action, which is 
doubted by some climatologists in defiance of 
many patent facts, it would be a matter of public 
concern rather than of private interest to preserve 
favorable or improve unfavorable conditions. As 
far as the forest yields useful material for the arts, 
it is an object of private industry ; but when, by its 
position on a watershed, the forest becomes an 
influential factor in the water conditions of the 
plain, it may still serve the purposes of gain and 
wealth, which are the objects of private industry, 
but its indirect significance for society at large 
exceeds the private interest. 

Of the proper condition of waterways, of navi- 
gation and transportation, it may be said, that 
while private interest may be concerned with it 
for private gain, public interest is involved in it to 
a much greater extent. For private interest lies 
only in the direction of individual gain, while state 
interest lies in the direction of social gain, of gain 
for a larger number. Whenever, therefore, other 
purposes, which do not contemplate the highest 
profitableness, are to be subserved, especially pur- 
poses which are of interest to the community at 



INTRODUCTORY. 1 5 

large, this class of resources must become an ob- 
ject of public economy by the state or community. 

Often it will be a difficult task in practice to 
assign a particular resource to a proper position 
with regard to its bearing upon social interests, but 
conservatism, which is the logical policy of society, 
will lead us in cases of doubt to lean toward the 
presumption that the interests of society are more 
likely to suffer than those of the individual ; and 
a mistake in curtailing private interests will be 
more easily corrected than a mistake in not hav- 
ing in time guarded social interests. Thus it has 
been urged against the selection of forest areas 
as state reserves for the purpose of protecting 
watersheds, that it would be difficult to decide 
which areas are necessarily comprised in such 
selection, without withdrawing those of simply 
commercial value. That the widest construction 
of the idea of protective forests will be safer than 
the opposite, and should be the one adopted by 
the government, seems quite reasonable. 

To properly appreciate the position in any 
given case, we will have to weigh the present and 
future significance of the resource, the likelihood 
of its permanence, and the likelihood of its fate 
under private treatment, whence the necessity of 
bringing it under sovereign control of the state 
and the quality of the control will appear. 

That each individual case will require its own 
consideration and adjudication holds there as well 



16 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

as with legislation in reference to industrial action, 
and the general classification here attempted offers 
simply a suggestion as to the general points of view 
from which each case must be considered. 

With the conception of the government before 
us, as outlined, namely, as the instrument to secure 
the possibility of not only social life but of social 
progress, the representative of communal interests 
as against private interests, of the future as 
against the present, we can get an idea as to how 
far the providential functions of the state are to be 
called into action. 

The policy of governmental control over water- 
ways, roads, and lands falling under the operation 
of eminent domain is well established in most gov- 
ernments. The ownership and management" of 
railways has proved itself to be in the interest of 
society in several countries. It should be extended 
with even more reason to all exhaustible, non- 
restorable resources. That in the interest of soci- 
ety and of production as well the mines should 
belong to the state in order to prevent waste, we 
may learn from the actual experience of France, 
where they are state property, and only the right 
to work them under supervision is leased to private 
individuals. 

Of the restorable resources it is apparent that, 
with regard to those which yield increased returns 
to increased labor, the interests of society and of 
the individual run on parallel lines. Where inter- 



INTRODUCTORY. 1 7 

ference of the state in their behalf exists it is not 
from providential reasons. The ameliorative func- 
tions only are called into requisition. Whatever 
tends to stimulate private activity is to be pro- 
moted, whatever retards development of intensive 
methods is to be removed, by government. Indus- 
trial education, cultural surveys, bureaus of infor- 
mation, experiment stations, and other aids to 
private enterprise constitute the chief methods 
of expressing state interest with regard to these 
resources. 

The three great resources upon which mankind 
is most dependent, and which, therefore, demand 
foremost attention of the state, are the soil as food 
producer, the water, and the climatic conditions. 
The utilization of these three prime resources by 
agriculture forms the foundation of all other in- 
dustries, or, as Sully puts it, " Tillage and pastur- 
age are the two breasts of the state." It is true 
the manufacturer increases the utility of things, 
but the farmer multiplies commodities ; he is crea- 
tive, and he therefore above all others can claim a 
right to first consideration on the part of the state. 

The soil is a valuable resource as far as it is 
fertile and capable of agricultural production ; the 
fertility, while liable to deterioration, can, with few 
exceptions, be said to be restorable, and it cer- 
tainly yields increased returns to intelligent in- 
creased labor. It ranks, therefore, with those 
resources which can be left to private enterprise, 



1 8 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

calling only for the ameliorative functions of the 
government. But while this condition prevails 
when the soil is put to agricultural use, it does not 
exist as long as the soil is not so utilized. By the 
withdrawal of large sections of land from such 
use, society is harmed, and deprived of the benefit 
which it would derive from the use of its property. 
The proper disposal and the appropriation of the 
soil to proper use form, therefore, fit functions of 
government control. 

The rational appropriation of soil for either 
farm use, pasturage, or timber production, one 
would think, could be left to the regulation of 
private intelligence ; yet the fact is, that the thin, 
rocky soils of mountain districts are worked for a 
scanty agricultural crop, when they should be left 
to timber ; while thousands of acres in fertile val- 
leys are still under the shade of virgin forests. 

Water and climate are the accessories to agri- 
cultural production, and supplement the resources 
of the soil. Not objects of private enterprise 
directly, except in a limited manner, it is evident 
that, as far as they or the conditions which influ- 
ence them can be at all controlled, they should be 
under the direct control of the state. A rational 
management of the water capital of the world in 
connection with agricultural use of the soil will 
become the economic problem of the highest im- 
portance as the necessity for increased food pro- 
duction calls for intensive methods. And in 



INTRODUCTORY. 1 9 

connection with this problem, it must become a 
matter of state interest, by a rational management 
of existing forests and by reforestation at the head 
waters of rivers and on the plains, to secure the 
conditions which make a rational utilization of the 
waters possible. For without forest management, 
no satisfactory water management is possible for 
any length of time, no stable basis for continued 
productive agriculture, industries, and commerce ! 

It is the object of this volume to elucidate in 
greater detail the significance and character of the 
forest resource, to show its relationship to the con- 
ditions of social life, to point out the various 
aspects from which it can be viewed, with the final 
object of determining the position which the state 
should take with reference to it, based upon the 
conception of state functions as outlined in this 
chapter. 

We shall recognize that to the individual it is the 
timber, the accumulated growth of centuries, which 
is of interest, and which he exploits for the purpose 
of making a profit on his labor and outlay without 
any interest in the future of the exploited area. 
The relation of the forest to other conditions, 
direct or indirect, immediate or future, hardly 
ever enters into his calculations. 

On the other hand, the function of the forest, 
which it exercises as a soil cover by preventing ero- 
sion of the soil, by regulating water flow, changing 
surface drainage into subsoil drainage, and thereby 



20 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

influencing the water stages of rivers, and its 
possible relation to the local climatic conditions, 
preeminently renders it an object of government 
consideration. 

Here the general principle of the Roman law, 
Utere tuo ne alterum noceas, prevention of the ob- 
noxious use of private property, readily establishes 
the propriety of state interference, and by alteram 
we are to understand, not only the other citizen of 
the present, but of the future as well. 

We will see, that the forest resource is one which, 
under the active competition of private enterprise, 
is apt to deteriorate, and in its deterioration to 
affect other conditions of material existence unfa- 
vorably ; that the maintenance of continued sup- 
plies as well as of favorable conditions is possible 
only under the supervision of permanent institu- 
tions with whom present profit is not the only 
motive. It calls preeminently for the exercise of 
the providential functions of the state to counter- 
act the destructive tendencies of private exploita- 
tion. 



CHAPTER II. 
THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 

It may be stated without fear of contradiction 
that outside of food products no material is so 
universally used and so indispensable in human 
economy as wood. Indeed, civilization is incon- 
ceivable without an abundance of timber. 

The nomad of to-day, who herds over the treeless 
plains and prairies, is still like the Scythian of 
ancient times ; his life, his culture, his attainments, 
are no more advanced. The successful settlement 
and civilization of our own treeless regions of the 
West became possible only through the develop- 
ment of means for the transportation of this most 
needful material. So general and far-reaching 
has its use become that a wood famine, however 
improbable its occurrence, would be almost as 
serious as a bread famine. We may become less 
wasteful, both as regards food and wood, but the 
necessity of wood, as far as we can foresee at 
present, will always be second only to the neces- 
sity of food, and far greater than that of any other 
material used in the arts. 

The necessity to us of any material depends on 
the extent and nature of its use, and on the possi- 

21 



22 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

bility of replacing it by other materials. If we 
regard the chair we sit on, the table we eat from, 
the paper we write on, as necessities, it is fair to 
say that over 99 per cent of all wood is used in 
supplying real wants, while less than 1 per cent 
is used to furnish luxuries, such as fancy articles, 
carvings, and other decorations. But even if only 
the use of wood as fuel, for the construction of 
shelter for man and goods, for the building of 
bridges and harbors, for purposes of transportation, 
agriculture, mining, and manufacture, is considered 
as necessary in distinction to unnecessary or luxu- 
rious uses, it may still be asserted that there is 
more than 95 per cent in bulk or weight thus 
consumed. 

Our civilization is built on wood. From the 
cradle to the coffin, in some shape or other, it 
surrounds us as a convenience or a necessity. 
It enters into nearly all our structures as an es- 
sential part. Over half our people live in wooden 
houses, and the houses of the other half require 
wood as an indispensable part in their construc- 
tion. It serves to ornament them, to furnish them 
with conveniences, to warm them, to cook the food. 
More than two-thirds of our people use wood as 
fuel, and until recent times it was the only or prin- 
cipal means of melting the ores and shaping the 
metals with which to fashion the wood itself (see 
Appendix). For every hundred tons of coal mined, 
two tons of mining timber are needed, and wood 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 23 

in large quantities is needed to mine our metals. 
Every pound of iron, every ounce of gold, requires 
wood in its mining, wood in its manufacture, wood 
in its transportation. There is hardly a utensil, a 
tool, or even a machine, in the construction of 
which wood has not played a part, were it only 
to furnish the handle or the mould or pattern. 

The articles, useful or ornamental, made wholly 
or in part of wood, are innumerable. Our houses 
are filled with them, our daily occupations necessi- 
tate them wherever we are. For our means of trans- 
portation we rely mainly on wood. Our 260,000 
miles of railroad track (190,000 miles railroad), 
the carriers of civilization, lie on not less than 
700,000,000 of wooden ties and need 140,000,000 
annually for renewals ; * they run over more than 
2000 miles of wooden trestles and bridges, they 
carry their passengers and freight in over 1,000,000 
wooden cars, and much of the millions of tons of 
freight is shipped in wooden boxes and barrels, and 

1 This drain on our forest resources for railroad ties or sleepers, 
which requires a wasteful use of our most durable timbers, is gradu- 
ally being reduced by preservative processes which lengthen the 
"life" of ties, and it bids fair to be soon avoided by the use of 
metal ties, which, except in initial cost, have proved themselves 
superior in all other respects. Their use is long past the experi- 
mental stage in other countries, there being, in 1894, not less than 
35,000 miles, or 9 per cent, of total track lying on metal, while the 
cheap initial cost of wooden ties in the United States has retarded 
their use here. Very exhaustive reports on the metal tie question 
were published by the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Division of For- 
estry, in Bulletin No. 4, 1889, and Bulletin No. 9, 1894. 



24 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

stored in wooden sheds. Ten million telegraph 
poles are needed to keep up communication be- 
tween distant markets. 

The forest furnishes the cooperage to market 
our vintage, to store our flour and fruit. The 
forest furnishes the plough handle and harrow 
frame to cultivate, the threshing machine and 
windmill to prepare the crops, the cart to bring 
them to market, the bottoms in which they cross 
the ocean to foreign marts, and even the tar and 
pitch needed to keep the cargo safe. While iron 
ships have largely replaced the wooden bottoms in 
ocean travel, our coastwise and inland shipping, 
which requires a tonnage twice as large as the 
transatlantic trade, is carried mostly in wooden 
ships. 1 We are rocked in wooden cradles, play 
with wooden toys, sit on wooden chairs and benches, 
eat from wooden tables, use wooden desks, chests, 
trunks, are entertained by music from wooden in- 
struments, enlightened by information printed on 
wooden paper with black ink made from wood, and 
even eat our salads seasoned with vinegar made 
from wood. 

1 According to the report of the Commissioner of Navigation, 
there were in the merchant marine of the United States in the year 
1900, 2,507,042 tons of sailing vessels, practically all of wood, and 
2,657,797 tons of steam vessels, of which, undoubtedly, a large 
part was in wooden hulls, besides over 4,000,000 tons unrigged 
vessels, wooden barges, etc., permitting the above estimate. During 
the year 1900, 1447 vessels, with a tonnage of 393,790, were built, 
of which only half the tonnage was of iron and steel. 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 25 

The uses of wood, multifarious now, are con- 
stantly increasing. With the manufacture of wood 
pulp and cellulose, an entirely new direction of use 
has been opened ; originally designed to furnish a 
cheap substitute for linen paper, its application in 
many ways is growing daily, and promises for the 
future the largest drain on our forest resources, 
the manufacture of wood pulp having increased 
more than threefold in the last ten years (see 
Appendix). 

To give briefly an idea of the extent of our own 
wood consumption, we may say that, if 5 persons 
are counted to a family, each family in the United 
States uses on an average about 2000 cubic feet or 
about 80,000 pounds of dry wood per year, the 
annual product of at least 50 acres of forest. 

The reasons for this universal and varied appli- 
cation of wood may be found in several directions. 
In the first place, the general occurrence of forest 
growth and the ease with which wood could be 
obtained and shaped directly to the purpose in 
hand made it naturally the material of earlier 
civilizations, but there are certain qualities in 
addition which will make its use always desirable, 
if not necessary. In the combination of strength, 
stiffness, elasticity, and relatively light weight, it 
excels all other known materials. Not only is a 
stick of long leaf pine superior in strength to one 
of wrought iron of the same weight, but employed 
as a beam it will bear without bending a load six to 



26 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

eight times as great as an iron bar of the same 
length and weight. Moreover, the wooden beam 
will endure greater distortion than the metals with- 
out receiving a " set " or permanent injury. 

The ease with which it can be shaped and keeps 
its shape, the softness and yet unchangeableness, its 
non-conductivity of heat, of electricity, which makes 
its use more comfortable than that of metals, in 
addition, its light specific weight and many other 
qualities, recommend it for many purposes in pref- 
erence to other materials. 

But above all things its cheapness recommends it, 
— we are paying now, leaving out fancy woods, at 
the most 60 cents per cubic foot for the best wood, 
shaped, as against $5 to $10 per cubic foot for iron 
in sheets or bars. Moreover, it is the only material 
of construction which we can produce and repro- 
duce at will, while we know that most other mate- 
rials now in use must be sooner or later exhausted. 

Other materials have displaced wood in some 
uses, but other uses have arisen for wood, and often 
the substitutes have again been displaced by wood, 
when its superiority or peculiar qualities have been 
more fully recognized. Even in such nicely bal- 
anced structures as the bicycle, for which metal 
seemed the only proper material, wood has proved 
itself superior, at least in certain parts. 

A remarkable instance of this return to the use 
of wood instead of metal is that for factory and 
warehouse construction in order to reduce danger 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 27 

from fire, it having been found that in case of fire 
iron beams and posts are twisted out of shape by 
the heat, causing the collapse of the whole build- 
ing, while with wooden posts and beams the chances 
of keeping the walls intact are much greater. 

Coal has largely displaced wood as fuel, yet ac- 
cording to the census of 1880 more than half of 
our population relied still on wood for fuel, and 
there is no reason to believe that the proportion 
has changed measurably. In fact, if we may be 
allowed to consider the figures of the census of 
1880 still proportionately true, as far as bulk is 
concerned, our fuel consumption represents about 
three-fourths of our total wood consumption, and 
even in value this part represents nearly one-half 
of our entire enormous consumption of forest prod- 
ucts, and exceeds in bulk more than ten times the 
iron and steel handled in this country. 

Very interesting statistics regarding the displace- 
ment of wood by coal in Germany show that from 
the beginning of the last century, when coal began 
to be generally used as fuel, the consumption of 
wood increased in the same proportionate rate as 
the consumption of coal. 

The development of the cellulose and wood pulp 
industry, with the consequent extension in the use 
of paper made from this material for all kinds of 
purposes where elasticity and durability combined 
with strength and lightness is demanded, from 
collars and cuffs and combs to car wheels, has 



28 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

given new and constantly growing employment to 
wood. 

Considering, moreover, the very extensive and the 
very varied employment of wood, it will be appar- 
ent that substitution by other materials cannot be 
readily accomplished and means inconvenience, 
and, in many cases, decrease of comfort. Hence 
large wood supplies are, and unquestionably will 
continue to be, an indispensable requirement of 
our civilization, almost like water, air, and food. 

Besides wood supplies, the forest furnishes other 
materials of no small value. Of these, two classes 
at least give rise to industries of considerable ex- 
tent, namely the tanning industry and the naval 
store industry. 

The bark of certain trees, notably the hemlock 
and the oaks among our native species, contain the 
chemical compounds known as tannic acids, which 
serve for the manufacture of leather. The fact 
that this property of the bark has made the value 
of the same to exceed by far the value of the wood 
itself, especially as it is easier to transport the 
former, has led to an enormous waste of useful 
wood material, the trees, in mountainous regions 
especially, having been peeled and left to rot in 
the woods ; and in certain mountain regions diffi- 
cult of access this waste still continues. 

Thus 1,500,000 cords of tan bark worth about 
$10,000,000, which we use annually, entailed for- 
merly a sacrifice of nearly 1000 feet of lumber per 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 29 

cord of bark ; of this now probably the larger part 
is saved. 

Lately, too, it has been found that the wood itself 
of some species yields paying quantities of tannin, 
which can be and are being extracted by special 
processes, thus again widening the field of useful- 
ness of the wood article itself ; while the metallic 
substitutes for tannins have so far not been able to 
displace the same to any great extent. 

The naval store industry, concerned in extract- 
ing from the living trees of certain kinds of pine, 
especially the Southern long leaf pine, and from 
other species, the resinous contents, and by distilla- 
tion obtaining turpentine, rosin of various kinds, 
and tar, is indebted to the forest to the extent of 
about $8,000,000 per year in our country. 1 This 
industry could be carried on without any direct 
injury to the wood product, provided the utilization 
of the trees followed at once the operations of the 
turpentine gatherer; but under the neglectful 
methods pursued, with fires sweeping through the 
woods, the scarred trees are to a large extent either 
burnt beyond usefulness, or injured by fungus and 
insects and laid low by wind storms, so that here 
again is an enormous and largely unnecessary loss to 
the forest resources, entailed in this industry. Here 
too, of late, improvement is observed, the sawmiller 
following more closely the turpentine gatherer. 

1 In 1899 the value reported by the census was over $20,000,000, 
as against the above figure for 1889. 



30 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

A similar industry is the tapping of the maple 
for sugar, which is peculiar to the United States, 
producing, with over 50,000,000 pounds of sugar 
and 3,000,000 gallons of syrup, values to the extent 
of $6,000,000 annually. 

Finally, by distillation of the wood itself and 
condensing of the gaseous products, considerable 
amounts of wood alcohol, wood vinegar, and ace- 
tates, creosote and other tar oils useful in the arts, 
are derived, adding another $3,000,000 or more to 
the annual revenue furnished by our forest resource. 

In addition to these materials, which come from 
the tree growth itself, there are many useful things 
growing in the forest, which in our country have 
hardly yet attained the dignity of industrial devel- 
opment; although the distillation of wintergreen 
oil from birch brush and the gathering of ginseng 
occupy quite a number of people industrially, while 
the huckleberry and cranberry crops furnish con- 
siderable additions to the fruit supply of gardens 
and orchards. 

How much may be obtained from the careful 
use of these by-products of the forest may be seen 
from the statement that in the Prussian state forests 
the revenues for 1 894-1 895 were: — 



For wood . 


$ 14,500,000 


For by-products 


. 1,000,000 


For game . 


90,000 



It is seen that the by-products furnished about 
7 per cent of the total income. 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 31 

In one small village of Pomerania (Prussia), 
the amount paid for huckleberries which the 
poor population gathers in the forest amounts to 
$20,000 or $30,000 a year. In another small 
forest district it is calculated that the berry and 
mushroom harvests represent to the gatherers an 
annual income of $22,500, showing that even the 
revenues derived from the minor products of the 
forest may attain a considerable economic signifi- 
cance. 

What relative position from the standpoint of 
wealth production the forest resources and their 
exploitation take in the household of the nation 
may best be learned from a comparison with other 
sources of wealth and their production, considering 
the revenues from the different forms of wealth, the 
capital invested, the value of product, the number 
of people employed, and the wages paid. Unfor- 
tunately for such comparisons the data are, at 
least in our own country, but unsatisfactory, 
since the statistics of an industry like the forest 
industries, which are largely removed from centres 
of production, and in which a large number of 
people are occupied only occasionally and for 
parts of the year, are necessarily deficient and 
must remain below the truth to an uncertain 
extent. 

It is, for instance, impracticable to ascertain the 
amounts of wood cut and used on farms for home 
consumption, or to apportion the employment of 



32 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

labor in this home exploitation. In addition, the 
values of a material which on account of its bulki- 
ness is only to a limited degree object of the world 
trade, are but little influenced by the world's de- 
mand, and dependent much more than food sup- 
plies on home demand only ; and hence the values 
of such material as wood are at a disadvantage, or 
at least on a different footing, when compared with 
other export materials. 

While the value of the raw forest products con- 
sumed every year in the United States at places of 
consumption, roughly shaped for further use, may 
be placed at $600,000,000, this is enhanced by their 
further manufacture to over $1,200,000,000, thus 
making the result of the forest industries second 
only to those of agriculture, the value of whose 
products reached in the census year (1890) nearly 
$2,500,000,000, while the total production of metals 
which could in any way replace wood — gold and sil- 
ver and iron included — reached only $270,000,000, 
and the entire mining industry (quarries and every 
kind of mineral or earthy product included) but 
little over $600,000,000. (See Appendix for details.) 

Although the forest industries are carried on 
with proportionately small capital, over $560,000,- 
000 were invested in the mere exploiting and first 
preparation of the material in the lumber business, 
while another $900,000,000 are employed in manu- 
factures which rely either entirely, or to an extent 
of over one-third of their product, on wood. 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 33 

Of the total value of manufactured products, 
aggregating nearly $10,000,000,000 worth in the 
census year 1890, 17 per cent is to be credited to 
the forest resource, and nearly 20 per cent of the 
capital invested, of labor employed, and of wages 
paid in all manufactures. 

In addition to the capital and labor involved in 
the exploitation of the forest, we have to consider 
the large but indeterminable amount of labor in- 
volved in the transportation of the material from 
points of manufacture, which adds to the eco- 
nomic importance of these industries in the same, 
in perhaps greater proportion, than other indus- 
tries. 

So large is the money value resulting from the 
mere conversion of the products of our wood- 
lands that it equals at present annually a 2 per 
cent dividend on the entire wealth of the nation 
($65,000,000,000, according to census in 1890). 
This dividend, to be sure, is unfortunately largely 
paid, 7ioi from surplusage, but from capital stock, 
and a future generatio?i will have to make good 
the deficiency. 

One very important factor often overlooked by 
laymen in appreciating the economic value of the 
forest resources of a country is the fact, that it 
is not wood simply that is wanted, but wood of 
certain quality useful for given purposes. A 
country may be well covered with woodlands and 
yet lack those valuable kinds of woods which lend 



34 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

themselves readily to the everyday uses of civil- 
ized life. 

Again, it may be well supplied with valuable 
kinds, but these are found so scattered among 
the less valuable growth, the tree weeds, that 
their exploitation becomes cumbersome and ex- 
pensive. 

Thus we see Brazil and other South American 
countries, and Australia, in spite of their extensive 
forest areas, come to the United States for their 
lumber supplies, lacking as they do the soft, easily 
worked, yet strong and elastic coniferous kinds, 
which are par excellence the materials of construc- 
tion. 

Again, the valuable hardwoods of those coun- 
tries, possessing excellent qualities, besides their 
beauty, for which alone we use them at present, 
will never be able to compete or supplant our own 
materials, for they occur in single individuals scat- 
tered among hundreds of other species, so that to 
supply any considerable quantity of any one kind 
requires culling over many acres, which renders 
them too expensive for general use. 

There is therefore nothing but ignorance in the 
comfortable ideas of those who look forward to 
a supply of wood from those countries when our 
own supplies give out. 

A proposition to secure statistics of the produc- 
tive forest area and timber supplies of the world 
ready for the axe, and of the consumption by the 



THE POOREST AS A RESOURCE. 



35 



population, was brought before the International 
Forestry Congress at Paris, in 1900. The attempt 
to secure such statistics in any way reliable is 
almost hopeless, when we cannot even in our own 
country get more than the roughest approxima- 
tions ; moreover, even if it were possible to secure 
some approximate figures, as long as there are no 
attempts at management of the resource, the knowl- 
edge would not be worth the expense it would en- 
tail to gather it, since the conditions would change 
without record being kept, hence the value of the 
figures would be most ephemeral. 

A rough approximation would bring out the fol- 
lowing condition of the earth's surface, from which 
at least the potential forest area, that which, under 
natural conditions, did or does or is able to produce 
timber forest, can be estimated : — 

Percentic Distribution of Land Area 





Potential and 

actual forest 

soils. 


Prairie. 


Plains and 
Barrens. 


North America . . . 
South America . . . 

In billion acres . . . 


45 
78 
84 

45 
60 

37 

60% 

18 


5 

12 
10 

3 
12 

38 

7% 
2 


50 
IO 

6 

52 
28 

25 

33% 
10 



36 



ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



One-third of the land area, then, is incapable 
of forest growth (not tree growth), 7 per cent is 
unfitted for it, and 60 per cent must be divided 
between farm and forest. How much is actually 
wooded it is impossible even to estimate, and 
how much contains available wood supplies, still 
less so. 

The world's requirement of wood materials may 
be estimated as follows, actual figures and statistics 
in some cases allowing reasonable approximations, 
but lacking, of course, for all oriental countries, 
Africa, Australia, South America, any tangible 
basis : for these, therefore, merely allowances by 
guess are made : — 







Inhabitants, 
millions. 


Wood Requirement. 






Per 
capita, 
cu. ft. 


Total 
million 
cu. ft. 


Of which 
ft. B.M. 
million. 


Per capita, 
ft. B.M. 


North America 
Europe .... 
All other countries, 


80 

360 

I,l6o 


300 
40 
19 


2,400 
1,440 
2,200 


40,000 
22,000 

4>5°o 


500 

60 

4 



This, for the 1,600, 000, 000 inhabitants, would 
average about 38 cubic feet per capita, of wood of 
all descriptions, of which 6 to 7 cubic feet are saw 
material equivalent to 40 feet board measure. 

The following countries furnish about the fol- 
lowing quota of the saw material : — 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 3; 

Million feet, 
B.M. 

United States 37,ooo 

Russia ........ 12,000 

Austria 3>5°° 

Germany ....... 3,000 

Canada 3,000 

Sweden and Norway ..... 2,000 
China and Japan ...... 2,000 

France i>500 

South America 1,000 

India 500 

All others . . . . . . . 1,000 

66,500 

The use of wood per capita in the United States, 
with about 350 cubic feet, exceeds that of all other 
civilized nations ; nearly one-quarter of this wood, or 
85 cubic feet, is log material (100 cubic feet log ma- 
terial may be roughly figured as producing 600 feet 
B.M. sawed material), while England, importing 
nearly all her requirements, can get along with about 
13 cubic feet of log material, and Germany with a 
consumption of 43 cubic feet of wood per capita, 
of which 1 5 cubic feet is log material. Both these 
countries, Great Britain importing practically all 
and Germany over 25 per cent of her needs, would 
indicate that a civilized nation in a northern coun- 
try requires between 1 2 and 1 5 cubic feet of log 
material. Outside of the United States and Canada, 
which export 280,000,000 cubic feet, the countries 
which cut more than they consume are Russia with 
420,000,000, Austria with 240,000,000, Norway and 



38 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Sweden with 400,000,000 cubic feet ; these export- 
ing countries, with additional small exportations 
from India and South America, supply the 1,400,- 
000,000 cubic feet which Europe imports, and for 
which she pays $200,000,000. 

For the United States the available timber ready 
for the axe has been estimated variously at from 
1,380,000,000,000 to 2,300,000,000,000 feet B.M., 
corresponding to 35 to 50 years' requirements, 
which, if only a distant approach to the truth, im- 
presses the need of careful husbanding and attention- 
to reproduction. 1 

If one would wish to know what the needs of a 
people for wood supplies is (when there is no ex- 
travagance permissible, and when every stick is 
used down to the brush, and when coal is not so 
plentiful as to supplant all firewood), the figures 
for Germany, which possesses unusually good sta- 
tistics to make such calculation possible, furnish a 
good basis. 

Its 50,000,000 people live on 133,000,000 acres 
of land, — 1 on 2§ acres as against 1 on 26 acres in 
the United States, — hence forest growth is mostly 
confined to the poorer soils, which are not fit for 
agriculture. From their 35,000,000 acres of such 
forest growth — f acres per person — the Germans 

1 Many foolish assertions regarding existing wood supplies in the 
United States and Canada, which are rehearsed by pseudo-statis- 
ticians to show inexhaustible supplies, are not worthy of considera- 
tion. 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 39 

take mostly only the annual accumulations, striv- 
ing to keep their stock, or wood capital, intact and 
in good reproductive condition. The annual cut 
amounts to 1,870,000,000 cubic feet of all sorts 
and sizes, or 53 cubic feet per acre, of which, how- 
ever, only 27 per cent, or round 500,000,000 cubic 
feet, is of size fit for manufactures. These amounts 
are, however, not sufficient for the needs of the popu- 
lation ; and hence, although some 48,000,000 cubic 
feet of wood and woodenware, worth $26,700,000, 
are exported, over 305,000,000 cubic feet of wood 
and wood articles, worth $53,500,000, are imported ; 
so that nearly 10 per cent of the total consumption 
comes from outside, not counting much wood that 
forms part of manufactures imported, like pianos, 
wagons, etc. 

We have then here a consumption of 43 cubic 
feet per capita, of which 15 cubic feet is sizable 
material, and the value would figure to little less 
than $3 per capita, or say $150,000,000 is the wood 
bill of these economical people annually, as against 
7 times that amount, which we spend. If you ask 
as to relative cost or price of these wood materials, 
one interesting fact stands out, namely, that while 
the value of their imports is $141 per ton, the value 
of their exports is $255 per ton; in other words, 
Germany is careful to export more manufactured 
and high-priced material than she imports ; thus, 
the exported lumber and wood brings her 32 cents 
per cubic foot, while she pays only 23 cents for the 



40 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

imported wood. Again, the exported wood manu- 
factures bring her at the rate of $4.20 per cubic 
foot, while she pays only $2.40 for the imported 
ware. We, on the other hand, export twice as 
much as we, import, and that mostly raw materials, 
namely, twice as much in value of raw materials as 
of manufactures, and by so much decimating our 
resources, which we exploit beyond their power of 
reproduction. 

The temperate zones are the favored ones in 
that they abound not only in a variety of woods 
which are most readily turned to use in all the 
various directions in which wood is required in our 
civilization, but the most useful ones occur more or 
less gregariously, so that their exploitation can be 
most readily and cheaply accomplished. This is 
especially the case with the conifers, spruces, firs, 
redwoods, and above all, the pines, which cover 
large areas exclusively or nearly so, and excel in 
the combination of desirable qualities all other ma- 
terials, so that without them our civilization would 
be badly crippled. Of the enormous yearly lum- 
ber consumption in the United States, amounting 
nearly to 40,000,00x5,000 feet of board measure 
(enough to make a plank walk 300 feet wide around 
the world, or floor over entirely the states of Dela- 
ware and Rhode Island), the conifers furnish more 
than J and the pines alone \ ; and again the white 
pine of the lake states furnishes f of this half, giv- 
ing to these supplies of one species an economic 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 



41 



significance beyond all others. The amount of vir- 
gin coniferous material standing ready for the axe 
amounts, probably, to less than 1,500,000,000,000 
feet. 

This lumber consumption, to be sure, represents 
only one-quarter of our wood consumption-; but it 
is the important part, to supply which trees of large 
size, of good form, of special quality, must be on 
hand, and which it has taken a century or more to 
produce, — most of our lumber is furnished at pres- 
ent by trees over 200 years old. The other three- 
quarters of our consumption, for firewood and small 
dimensions, can be easily supplied from inferior 
material, the offal of the lumber trees and young 
growth, although at present much body wood is 
still cut into billets for firewood. 

The layman, who has no experience with the 
requirements and practice of lumber production, 
can hardly realize what a small percentage of the 
actual wood in a tree or an acre of forest growth 
reappears in useful shape from the sawmill. Not 
only is a large part of the tree in the virgin woods 
often altogether unfit for sawing, being crooked or 
knotty or rotten or windshaken, but the unavoidable 
waste at the mill in shaping the material reduces 
the output by at least one-third to two-thirds 
of the contents of the logs that are placed before 
the saw. That this mill waste increases rapidly 
with the reduction in size of the log will become a 
significant fact, when the heavy sizes of the virgin 



42 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

forest are exhausted and smaller sizes must satisfy 
our demands. 

It is, then, not woodlands, not the area of wooded 
country, which has a meaning as far as material 
forest resources are concerned, but the composition 
and condition of the timber on that area determines 
its value. 

Thus nearly 50 per cent of Massachusetts is cov- 
ered with a wood growth, but the lumber product 
of that state would not suffice to supply the needs 
of one-tenth of its population. Not only is there 
hardly any lumber to be found ready for the axe, 
but the percentage of growth capable of produc- 
ing desirable material is exceedingly small. 

Thousands of square miles in the United States 
are in similar condition ; they are woodlands, but 
the composition and condition of the forest growth 
is such as to have no significance as regards lumber 
supply for the present and for a long future. 

The capacity of the forest to produce new sup- 
plies depends both as to quantity and quality on 
the climate, character of the soil, and still more on 
the care which the forest receives. 

In the uncared-for, natural, or virgin forest the 
production is always much smaller than in the 
forest properly managed, and, on the average, of a 
much inferior kind. Not that the magnificent clear 
lumber which we find in virgin woods could be 
much improved in quality, but considering the 
time and space, the product has been obtained 
with the maximum waste of both. 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 43 

The virgin forest is always stocked largely with 
very old, and necessarily often decaying trees, 
which are doing little or nothing in the way of 
growth or else are deteriorating faster in quality 
than they increase in quantity ; then there are 
myriads of saplings and small brush either of kinds 
which are undesirable or of individual trees which 
under the shade of the older will never have oppor- 
tunity to develop into valuable wood. Moreover, 
the virgin forest rarely covers fully the ground it 
occupies, but usually leaves larger or smaller open- 
ings growing to grass or shrubs, and among the 
trees forming the forest there are a large number 
which are not useful in the arts, — tree weeds. 

In addition dead trees and fallen timber always 
occupy considerable space which is thus withdrawn 
from wood production. Hence it is almost impos- 
sible to give even an approximate estimate of what 
the virgin forest actually produces, how much per 
acre and year grows in it. 

This is certain, that while the few trees which 
overtower the general level of the rest of the 
growth and are fully developed, may have made 
as much wood as the species in the soil and climate 
could make, yet the useful wood production on the 
whole acre has been far below its capacity. 

The timber in our pineries which is considered 
fit for sawing is mostly over one hundred and fifty 
years old, and it has, therefore, taken at least a 
century and a half to produce the five to ten thou- 



44 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

sand feet B.M. per acre, which are ordinarily har- 
vested from these virgin woods. But this product 
was , probably ready for the axe these thousand 
years, without increasing, the decay balancing the 
new growth ; generations of similar large trees have 
come to maturity, have fallen and decayed before 
and during the one hundred and fifty years in 
which the present crop developed. At the same 
time, to judge from the number and character of 
the decaying trunks which are found covering the 
ground, these generations have not been very 
many during the time that the present crop has 
been growing : the land has largely been wasted 
in producing useless material, — brush and tree 
weeds. 

In other words, the natural forest resource as we 
find it consists of an accumulated wood capital lying 
idle and awaiting the hand of a rational manager 
to do its duty as a producer of a continuous highest 
revenue. 

Such management, however, it does not receive 
in the crude exploitations to which it is subjected 
in all newly developed and developing countries ; 
on the contrary, the wasteful use of the soil is only 
intensified ; for these exploitations, the operations 
of the lumberman, consist in a mere removal of 
the valuable portions of the growth, a cashing of 
the accumulated wood capital, without the slightest 
reference to future revenues which might be 
derived from it in the shape of wood growth. In 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 45 

fact he does not recognize or consider that the 
forest is not merely a mine, but a reproducible re- 
source, — a living, growing crop, the product of the 
soil and climate, which can be reproduced ad libi- 
tum in even superior quantity and quality to what 
nature alone and unaided has done. 

His methods of removing the standing timber 
are not only wasteful, — for under the present 
economic conditions prevailing in most parts of the 
United States hardly more than 20 to 30 per cent, 
rarely 40 to 50 per cent, of the material in the felled 
trees is utilized, — but they decrease the capacity 
of the land for producing valuable timber. 

By culling out the most valuable kinds, leaving 
undesirable kinds and poor trees to shade the 
young growth that may have developed, he pre- 
vents the reproduction of a valuable crop, and 
hence such culled areas, while they still appear as 
forested, have often lost their entire value as pro- 
ducers of useful material ; the growth on the land 
being an encumbrance rather, to be got rid of first, 
before profitable use of the soil either for agri- 
cultural crops or for useful wood crops can take 
place. 

It thus may happen that the charcoal burner, 
who cuts the entire growth of wood, produces less 
injury to the future condition of the forest resource, 
for he gives at least equal chance to the valuable 
and less valuable kinds to reoccupy the ground, 
,while the lumberman gives the advantage to the 



46 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

weeds in tree growth whenever he culls the better 
kinds. Under these conditions, when the timber 
is harvested and the land burned over, the condi- 
tions are so changed and so variable as to preclude 
every estimate of future supplies that might be 
reproduced. 

The rational way in treating the resource of 
virgin woods, from national economic if not from 
private pocket interest, would be as far as possible 
to prepare first for a desirable reproduction by cut- 
ting out the poor kinds and the useless brush, then 
logging out first only the largest trees of the bet- 
ter kinds with proper precaution against injury to 
younger growth, and against fires, then gradually, 
as younger trees grow on, the older ones may be 
harvested and as much as possible in such a man- 
ner that the young aftergrowth is given room and 
light. 

Thus, by mere care in utilizing the resource, not 
only can all the product be harvested but a new 
crop, increased in quantity, can be secured. From 
such simple care we come to the finest methods of 
forestry, for these are only different in the degree 
of care, hardly in the kind. 

By these methods man makes the forest resource 
produce easily the treble and quadruple of what it 
does when left alone ; so that merely by the judi- 
cious use the capacity of useful production grows. 

How much intensive management can increase 
the yield of the resource may be judged from the 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 47 

experiences of German forest administration. Here 
the forest resources are nearly if not entirely- 
brought under rational management and are 
treated as a crop, constantly furnishing harvests, 
and being reproduced without diminishing the 
wood capital. 

The results in quantity of raw product depend 
of course largely on soil, climate, and species, and 
in amount of money returns, also on market con- 
ditions and means of transportation. 

These last conditions, if favorable, may render a 
more intensive management and especially a closer 
utilization of all kinds and classes of wood possible, 
and hence the results differ widely. 

Thus the more extensively managed Prussian 
government forests, which with an area of 6,750,000 
acres are perhaps also stocked on poorer soils and 
are less favorably situated, produced as an average 
for a series of years 42 cubic feet of timber wood 
(over 3 inches diameter) per acre, those of Bavaria 
55, those of Baden 59, of Wiirtemberg 67, while 
the most intensively managed state forests of 
Saxony of only 430,000 acres extent produced 90 
cubic feet of wood per acre per year, of which 68 
cubic feet was timber wood, the highest produc- 
tion for such a large area. 

In Austria from nearly 25,000,000 acres the cut 
in 1 890 was 43 cubic feet per acre ; and for France 
the cut in the state forests, supposed to equal the 
annual growth, was stated for 1876 at 50 cubic 



48 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

feet, while the more poorly managed communal 
forests were capable of furnishing only 40.6 cubic 
feet per acre. 

The money returns depend, of course, in some 
degree on the quantity of product, quality, and 
local demand. In the densely populated, highly 
industrial state of Saxony they were $4.00 per acre 
net, as against $1.19 and $0.96 in the same period 
for Bavaria and Prussia respectively. 1 

A further illustration of the increase in yield 
which comes with proper management of this re- 
source is furnished by the Prussian state forest 
administration; while during the years from 1829 
to 1867 the cut was increased from 28 to 37 cubic 
feet per acre and to 46.7 cubic feet in 1880, nearly 
double what it was in 1829, yet the proportion of 
old timber over 80 years, or stock of merchantable 
timber on hand increased during the last 20 years 
of the period from 23 per cent to 27 per cent, 

1 How much the money results per acre vary according to the 
species and the fact whether the production is directed more to the 
production of firewood or of saw timber may be seen from a calcu- 
lation by Schwappach (Forstpolitik), according to which the net 
yield on an acre, stocked on best soil for a rotation of 120 years, i.e. 
the crop being allowed to grow that length of time, would be, when 
mainly firewood is produced, for pine, $375; for spruce, #672; for 
beech, $456; when the management is directed to a greater pro- 
duction of saw timber, these results can be increased for pine to 
$1,470; for spruce, $3,195; for beech, $836, making the acre pro- 
duce respectively 3 times, 4 times, and double the result. This con- 
sideration may serve as a pointer to our New England woodland 
owners, who are satisfied with the production of firewood. 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 49 

showing that the cut remained below the produc- 
tion. In Saxony, the cut in the most intensively 
managed state forests has been doubled in the last 
fifty years, and yet the stock of wood capital 
standing has increased over 16 per cent; while, in 
1845, of the cut per acre of 56 cubic feet, 11 per 
cent was saw timber, in 1893, of the 90 cubic feet 
cut, 54 per cent was timber fit for the mill. The 
gross revenue increased in that time 234 per cent, 
and the net revenue over 80 per cent. A financial 
calculation shows that the state's property has not 
only paid 3 per cent continuously in revenue, but 
has appreciated in value 24 per cent by mere 
accumulation of material. 

Since, then, these yields have been kept up 
for a considerable period without decreasing the 
amount of wood capital on hand, it is fair to 
assume that these figures approach nearly to the 
true producing capacity of these forest lands under 
the methods employed. 

Altogether, the 10,000,000 acres of German 
state forests, managed in a conservative manner 
for continuous production, average about 46 cubic 
feet of wood (exclusive of brush and rootwood) 
per year per acre, in which about 50 per cent, or 
22 cubic feet, are unliable product, log or bolt size. 

It is significant to note that the private forests 
of the empire fall much below these amounts, 
producing not more than 30 and 12 cubic feet per 
acre respectively. 



50 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

According to a conservative calculation based 
upon these experiences, the forest resource of Ger- 
many represents, in round numbers, a capital value 
of $ 1 80 per acre ($25 for the soil and $155 for the 
stock of wood), paying a constant revenue of 3 per 
cent on such capitalization; or since there are some- 
what over 35,000,000 acres of forest, their capital 
value is equal to $6,340,000,000, producing a con- 
tinuous annual income of $190,000,000. The state 
properties are, moreover, constantly improving, and 
the revenue constantly increasing. 

While, to the casual reader, this showing may 
hardly appear as a very profitable business, we 
must not forget that the result is obtained for the 
most part from soils which would otherwise be 
unproductive, for the forest areas in these coun- 
tries are in the main confined to the non-agricul- 
tural lands, and to such as may not with impunity 
be deprived of their forest cover. 

Furthermore, from the standpoint of national 
economy the productive employment of labor 
directly or indirectly concerned is of moment, 
representing in laborers' wages annually round 
$150,000,000, namely, $35,000,000 for exploitation, 
planting, road building, and hauling of forest prod- 
ucts, not including rail and water transportation, and 
$115,000,000 for labor in industries concerned in 
shaping the wood, so that not less than 1,000,000 
laborers' families may be estimated to find support 
from the forest. 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 51 

Although we are without the statistics which 
would permit a similar statement regarding the 
value of our own forest resource, especially as it 
has not yet come to a stable condition as a man- 
aged property, yet we may venture to make a rea- 
sonable guess at some of its conditions, based upon 
such statistical data as are at hand, and judgment 
of probabilities. 

Our consumption we can reasonably approxi- 
mate with a round 25,000,000,000 cubic feet of 
large-size material, for we do not use the brush- 
wood to any extent. This, with an estimated 
area of round 500,000,000 acres, means a cut per 
acre of 50 cubic feet, while even the most san- 
guine estimate of new growth for this vast and 
variously stocked area could not be made to 
exceed 10 cubic feet of such wood as we utilize 
per acre and year, and is probably far below 
this. 

Of this large consumption, however, only one- 
quarter, or 6,000,000,000 cubic feet goes into bolt 
or log-size material for mill use, the rest being fire- 
wood, for which, to be sure, also mostly log-size 
material is used. The value of the mill material, 
two-thirds of which is coniferous wood, represents 
about $500,000,000. 

An extravagant estimate of the available timber 
supplies ready for the axe — a guess which the 
writer has ventured upon the basis of various 
statistical data, experiences, and considerations of 



52 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

possibilities and probabilities — would make the 
stock on hand about as follows : — 

Billion feet, 
B.M. 

Northern States 500 

Southern States ...... 700 

Western States ...... 800 

It is apparent that we are bound to exhaust these 
stores in less time than they can be replaced, that 
we are not living on interest, but are rapidly at- 
tacking our wood capital, — a process fully in keep- 
ing with the development of any new country, but 
also one against which reaction must set in in time, 
if serious consequences are to be avoided. 

Such reaction may be secured first through a 
more economical use of the timber resources, for 
our per capita consumption falls hardly short of 
350 cubic feet, nearly nine times that of Germany 
and twenty-five times that of England, and hence 
a large margin is left for such economies. 

Finally, however, forest management, as prac- 
tised in other countries, will become an unavoid- 
able necessity to secure the continued production 
of needed wood supplies. 

There is one factor of national importance re- 
sulting from the industries concerned in the con- 
version of our virgin forests, which does not at all, 
or not to the same extent, attach to them in other 
countries, and which, in the end, is of more 
moment than estimates of stumpage or land values 
or values of products can express. 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 53 

Not only does the lumberman with the system- 
atic development of his business, which has enabled 
him to supply a superior article as cheaply as the 
inferior one is sold in Europe, give rise to many 
manufactories and industries and render possible 
the development of distant agricultural regions, 
which in turn renders profitable the building of 
railroads and the employment of labor, but he has 
been the pioneer in bringing the wilderness itself 
within reach of civilized influences ; and while this 
has often been done at an unnecessarily extrava- 
gant sacrifice of much of our natural forest 
resources, the opening up of these backwoods 
must nevertheless be considered as a potent influ- 
ence for good, resulting from his business. 

Per aspera ad astra, through rough work to civ- 
ilization, is the history of the settling of the back- 
woods, which the logger has accomplished. 

Such settlement is necessary before forest man- 
agement can be profitably applied to the remnants 
of woodlands ; and while we may regret the waste- 
fulness with which this settlement has been made, 
we must consider it as a necessary step toward 
an extension of civilized conditions. 



CHAPTER III. 
THE FOREST AS A CONDITION. 

The earth may be said to be a potential forest. 
A cover of tree growth more or less dense is or has 
been the natural condition at least of the larger 
portion of the habitable earth; and of the entire 
land surface not less than 60 per cent may be 
classed as actual or potential woodland. 

In the struggle for existence and for occupancy 
of the soil between the different forms of vegeta- 
tion, tree growth has an advantage in its perennial 
nature and in its elevation above its competitors for 
light, the most essential element of life for most 
plants. These characteristics, together with its 
remarkable recuperative powers, assure to the 
arborescent flora final victory over its competi- 
tors, except where climatic and soil conditions are 
not adapted to it. 

The entire absence of tree growth from some 
localities, such as the northern tundras and the 
high peaks above timber line, is due both to tem- 
perature and soil conditions. Here the two char- 
acteristics of perennial life and persistent height 
growth, become unfavorable, since extreme winter 

54 



THE FOREST AS A CONDITION. 55 

temperatures above the snow cover, droughty 
winter storms, and frosts every month in the year 
can be endured only by those plants which have a 
rapid cycle of development, or are sheltered near 
the ground by the snow cover; the wet soil on 
the tundras, frozen for most portions of the year, 
or the thin soil on the Alpine peaks, adds to the 
difficulties for deep-rooting species in their contest 
with the lower vegetation. Again, in the interior 
of continents and other localities unfavorably situ- 
ated with reference to the great sources of mois- 
ture and moisture-bearing currents, deficiency of 
water, namely scant rainfall or low relative humid- 
ity, or both, and excess of evaporation, are inimi- 
cal to tree growth. Occasionally soil conditions, 
especially with reference to drainage, and climatic 
conditions combined, may be more favorable to the 
graminaceous vegetation, at least for a time, giving 
rise to pampas, prairies, and savannas ; or else the 
unfavorable conditions combine to such a degree 
as to give rise to deserts. 

In addition, there are other inimical agencies in 
the animal world, which prevent the progress of 
forest growth and tend to preserve the prairie : 
locusts, rodents, ruminants, buffalo, antelope, horses, 
etc., impede the growth and spread of trees ; and 
especially where compact soil and deficient mois- 
ture conditions are leagued with these animals, the 
change from prairie to forest is prevented, at least 
for a time. 



56 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Woodlands are the most unfavorable form of 
vegetation for the life of ruminants, and therefore 
for the support of the largest number of men. For 
food production, for agricultural pursuits, man 
must subdue and remove the tree growth. Hence 
forest devastation, forest destruction, is the begin- 
ning of civilization, its necessary prerequisite. 

But while the removal and repression of the 
wood, as an impediment to culture and food pro- 
duction, is a necessary step toward a higher civili- 
zation, the fact that at the same time it furnishes 
material equally indispensable in building up a civ- 
ilization requires consideration also, and the neces- 
sity for its preservation in part, its continuance in 
possession of some portions of the soil, is indicated. 

Happily, the very soils and situations which are 
not fit for agriculture are still capable of support- 
ing tree growth ; and although the best timber, no 
doubt, may be grown on land most favorable to 
agricultural crops, the poorer soils and mountain 
slopes unfit for plough land will still yield wood 
crops of useful description. 

In reducing, therefore, the woodland condition 
to one adapted to the highest civilization, the rele- 
gation of the different soils and sites to the differ- 
ent uses to which they are best adapted, as fields, 
pastures, or forest, is a problem of true national 
economy. 

Besides the consideration of a proper proportion 
of woodlands to furnish the needful supply of wood 



THE FOREST AS A CONDITION. 57 

material, — supply forests ■, — there are other consid- 
erations which enter into this problem of the eco- 
nomic use of the soil and of distributing the various 
conditions of its occupancy. These are based upon 
knowledge of what we may call forest influences : 
the influence which the existence of a forest cover 
as a surface condition of the soil . exerts upon soil 
conditions, temperature conditions, and water con- 
ditions, and by virtue of which we may charac- 
terize them as protective forests. While the most 
economic use of the soil for material production 
necessitates relegation of forests to the poorer soils, 
protective considerations necessitate its relegation 
to certain localities. 

While our modern philosophy of nature readily per- 
ceives that all things are interdependent, and hence 
no change can take place in one condition without 
corresponding changes in other conditions, even 
the oldest civilized men intuitively recognized or at 
least suspected and appreciated the fact that the 
forest cover had some influence upon its surround- 
ings, upon climate, health, and water conditions of 
a country, as is evidenced by many sayings of 
Mosaic, Roman, and Greek writers, by which far- 
sighted priests prevented their destruction. The 
consecration of groves to religious use and various 
mythological conceptions connected with them, 
point in this direction. 

Thus Homer calls the mountain woodlands the 
habitations of the gods (re^ivr) aOavdrcov), in which 



58 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

the mortals never fell the trees, but where they fall 
from age when their time has come. His tree and 
woodland nymphs, originating in springs, seem to 
suggest the suspected relation of forests and springs. 
The legend of Erichthonios most beautifully hints 
at the dependence of agriculture and forest cover : 
when, by the felling of a holy oak, he has of- 
fended the dryads, Ceres, the patroness of agricul- 
ture, is asked to send one of their number to the 
mountains of the Camasus to fetch Famine, who 
takes hold of Erichthonios and kills him. 

These relations, thus darkly hinted at in earliest 
times, became more clearly recognized by philo- 
sophical writers. While Aristotle, in his " Na- 
tional Economy," points out that an assured supply 
of accessible wood material is one of the necessary 
conditions of existence for a city, Plato, in his 
" Civitas," writes of the " sickening of the country " 
in consequence of deforestation. The Roman 
" Twelve Table Laws," the organic law of the 
republic, recognizes the necessity of forest protec- 
tion, and Cicero, in his second Philippica, designates 
as enemies to the public interest those engaged in 
forest devastation. Laws prohibiting forest de- 
struction in the mountain forests of the Apennines 
were generally enforced in the early middle ages; 
as, for instance, in Florence, where deforestation 
within one mile of the summit of the Apennines 
was forbidden, and it was only about the first part 
of the eighteenth century that these wise provisions 



THE FOREST AS A CONDITION. 59 

which had preserved the cover of the higher 
mountain ranges were abolished and the present 
sad condition of things was inaugurated in Italy. 

Mesopotamia, once praised as the paradise of 
fertility, where, according to Herodotus, the cul- 
ture of the grape could not succeed on account 
of its moisture, has become a sand waste, in which 
the Euphrates, once an ample source of water sup- 
ply, is drowned. Most of the springs and brooks 
of Palestine, and with them the fertility still cele- 
brated in the early middle ages, have gone. Greece 
shows the progress of a similar decadence ; Sicily, 
once the never-failing granary of the Roman Em- 
pire, once well wooded, now entirely deforested, 
suffers from repeated failures of crops. The so- 
called fumari, deep gullies in gravel, filled with 
washed debris, encroach after every rain upon the 
fertile fields, emptying them of water in a few hours. 

The first definite expression of such relations 
of forest cover to climate appears in a biography 
of Admiral Almirante, written before 1540, by 
the Spaniard, Fernando Colon, in the following 
words : — 

" The Admiral ascribed the many invigorating, 
cooling rains, to which he was exposed while sail- 
ing along the coast of Jamaica, to the extent and 
density of the woods which covered the slopes of 
the mountains, and adds that formerly Madeira, 
the Canaries, and Azores enjoyed the same abun- 
dance of water, but that since the woods which 



60 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

had shaded the ground have been decimated, the 
rains have become less frequent." Similar lan- 
guage is laid into the mouth of Christopher Colum- 
bus in the " Historia de S. D. Fernando Columbo," 
1 571, which is supposed, however, to be a spurious 
work. 

But it was not until the beginning of the eigh- 
teenth century that both in France and Germany 
voices became loud regarding the evil effects of 
forest devastation, and then, too, the growing 
deficiency of material supplies formed a still 
more prominent argument for action. Thus, in 
France, where — in spite of Sully's celebrated 
epigrammatic warning, "La France perira faute 
des bois" and Colbert's forest ordinance of 1669 — 
only indifferent attention to a conservative forest 
policy was paid, the members of the academie 
royale, Buff on (1739), and later the Marquis de 
Mirabeau (1750), exerted themselves to bring 
about a better conception of the value of forests. 

Buffon expressed himself, as a result of extended 
observations, that " the longer a country is inhab- 
ited, the poorer it becomes in forest growth and 
water." But the most forcible demonstration of 
this relation between woods and waters was had 
as a consequence of the extensive forest devasta- 
tion which took place during the years of the 
French Revolution, when an unrestricted people 
in their greed denuded large tracts of mountain 
woodlands in the southern mountain districts of 



THE FOREST AS A CONDITION. 6l 

that country. So soon did the evil effects become 
apparent, that even in 1792 the governor of the 
Department of Basses-Alpes reported : " The clear- 
ings progress rapidly; from Dique to Entrevaut 
the mountain slopes have been denuded of the 
finest forest growth; the smallest brooks have 
grown into torrents, and several communities have 
lost by floods their harvests, herds, and houses." 

In 1803 the agricultural society of Marseilles 
complains as follows : " The winters have become 
severer, the summers drier and hotter, the bene- 
ficial rains of spring and autumn fail ; the Mejeanne 
river, flowing east and west, tears away its banks 
with the smallest thunder-storm, and inundates the 
richest meadows ; but nine months of the year its 
bed is dry, since the springs have given out ; irregu- 
lar destructive thunder-showers are of yearly occur- 
rence, and rain is deficient at all seasons." 

Yet, in spite of these early warnings, which were 
supported by theoretical discussions of such sound 
reasoners as Boussingault, Becquerel, and others, 
action to stem the destruction and to recuperate 
the lost ground was obtained only within the last 
forty years, after at least 1,000,000 acres of moun- 
tain forest had been denuded, and all aftergrowth 
had been destroyed by fire and excessive grazing, 
in consequence of which the mountain streams, 
turned into torrents, had laid waste about 8,000,000 
acres of tillable land, and the population of eigh- 
teen departments had been "impoverished or driven 



62 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

out. Now, although with the expenditure of more 
than $40,000,000 only a small part has been recu- 
perated, the efficiency of a forest growth in hold- 
ing the soils of the slopes and retarding the 
run-off water seems experimentally demonstrated 
beyond peradventure. 

In Germany the greatest exponent of natural 
philosophy, Alex, von Humboldt, from observa- 
tions in many parts of the globe, came to the 
conclusion that forest conditions and climatic 
conditions are intimately related. Among the 
causes which tend to lower the mean annual 
temperature, he cited in his " Cosmos," " extensive 
woods, which hinder the insolation of the soil by 
the vital activity of their foliage, producing in- 
tense evaporation owing to the extension of these 
organs, and increasing the surface that is cooled 
by radiation, and acting consequently in a three- 
fold manner, by shade, evaporation, and radia- 
tion ; " and in another place he gives expression 
to his conviction of the relation of forest cover 
and water conditions in the often-cited words, 
" How foolish does man appear to me in destroy- 
ing the mountain forests, for thereby he deprives 
himself of wood and water at the same time." 

In the beginning of this century, when the 
tendency of dismembering and selling the forest 
property accumulated by the state governments 
began to spread, in part as a consequence of 
Adam Smith's doctrine*, those opposed to such a 



THE FOREST AS A CONDITION. 63 

policy, especially in Germany, made vigorous prop- 
aganda for the theory of the protective value of 
forest cover, and, as is natural for propagandists, 
made many sweeping and extravagant claims, and 
an extensive literature, characterized by vigorous 
declamation of unsubstantiated facts, and by ab- 
sence of exact data, was the result. 

The condition of Palestine and other Eastern 
countries, of Greece, Sicily, and Spain, once fertile, 
now more or less desolate, was cited, and morals 
were drawn from these experiences; discrimina- 
tion as to historic evidences of cause and effect 
was mostly wanting, so that this historic method 
of discussing the problem has been largely dis- 
credited. 

Systematic attempts to establish by experiments 
and exact methods the truth in the matter, at least 
as far as climatic influence is concerned, were made 
only within the last thirty-five or forty years. In 
France, Becquerel began in 1858 a series of obser- 
vations on temperatures within and without a forest 
cover ; in 1 866, the forestry school at Nancy was 
engaged in determining moisture conditions at sta- 
tions in the forest, and later in the open ; and 
several other investigators, both in France and 
Germany, carried on such observations about the 
same time. In 1868, the Bavarian government in- 
stituted an exhaustive series of observations under 
Dr. Ebermayer, to determine the climatic condi- 
tions within a forest area. Switzerland followed 



64 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

with three pairs of parallel stations, and in 1875 
Prussia established an investigation, which still con- 
tinues, with seventeen stations, observations being 
taken at each on instruments set up within the 
forest and another set in a neighboring field. In 
1884, Austria instituted a series of radial stations 
at which not only the difference of meteorological 
data within and without a forest, but the influence 
of the forest on its surroundings, were to be meas- 
ured directly. 

Although, by these many and long continued 
observations, some valuable facts have been estab- 
lished, and our ideas as to the elements which enter 
into the problem have been cleared up, the real 
object of inquiry, namely, whether and how far 
forests exercise an influence upon climate, cannot 
be said to have progressed far to a solution, and it 
is questionable whether the present methods will 
ever lead to a solution. 

The reasons for this failure are at least three- 
fold. Both instruments and methods of meteoro- 
logical inquiry are as yet unsatisfactory. When, 
for instance, rain gauges will, according to their 
construction, the manner of their position, and the 
character of the wind and rain, during the same 
storm, register amounts varying from 7 to 40 per 
cent, we are without any means of applying a con- 
stant factor of correction, and it would appear that 
no reliance can be placed on such measurements for 
the purpose of determining the difference of rain- 



THE FOREST AS A CONDITION. 6$ 

fall within and without the forest. The difficulty 
of finding stations within and without the forest 
which differ in no other respects than the forest 
cover, excluding all topographic and other influ- 
ences upon meteorological phenomena, is well-nigh 
insurmountable. 

Finally, whatever we may be able to do in ascer- 
taining the single meteorological data that give us 
an insight into the differences regarding these single 
elements under varying conditions, the difference 
in their combined effect, which we know as climate, 
still requires the application of a philosophical mind 
to the interpretation of the data. Hence we find 
that not only are the collected data often discord- 
ant, but the same data have been used by students 
of the question both to assert and to deny proof of 
the existence of forest influences. In other words, 
the problem is too complicated for our present 
means and methods to be settled by the mathe- 
matical method. 

We are, therefore, for the present, thrown back 
upon the method of general observations in the field 
and the application of reasoning from well-known 
physical laws, for this is one of those problems 
which withdraw themselves from exact mathemati- 
cal treatment now, and we must rely upon empiri- 
cism until we have further advanced in developing 
the means and methods of meteorological inquiry. 

The immaterial influence of the forest is claimed 
to extend in at least four or five more or less sepa- 



66 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

rate, yet, nevertheless, more or less closely related, 
directions, namely : — 

i. Upon the climatic conditions within its own 
limits and beyond. 

2. Upon the distribution and character of the 
waterflow. 

3. Upon the mechanical condition and erosion 
of the soil under its cover. 

4. Upon the health conditions. 

5. Upon the ethics of a people. 

This last influence is one which we cannot measure 
or even argue with any determinable force, but 
which we ourselves may feel more or less strongly, 
according to the degree to which our emotions in 
general are susceptible. In either of the other 
directions in which an influence of forest cover 
is asserted, the mechanical obstruction which it 
represents is the principal effective element ; the 
physiological functions of the living plant playing, 
to be sure, a part, but of much less importance, 
probably, than has been often supposed. 

It requires no instrument to find out that the 
effective temperature is higher when the sun has 
full sway upon our skulls than if we interpose the 
shade of a densely foliaged tree to obstruct the 
sun's rays ; on the other hand, the cooling breeze, 
which may pass over the open field, is also ob- 
structed by the forest growth, and its absence may 
make the air temperature appear higher, even in 
spite of the shade. Again, it stands to reason 



THE FOREST AS A CONDITION. 67 

that a dense old growth, such as one may find 
here and there on the Pacific coast, with trees 
towering 250 to 300 feet above ground and so 
close together that no ray of light reaches the soil, 
must have a different effect from the low and 
scanty growth of cedar and pinon which we find 
on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains and else- 
where, or the young coppice growth of New Eng- 
land, interposing but little shade. Whether the 
forest lies to the leeward or in the direction of the 
prevailing wind, whether it be coniferous and ever- 
green through the year, or only summer-green, will 
also have to be considered in estimating its pro- 
tective value. 

While the single tree undoubtedly acts in the 
same manner as a collection of trees, its influence 
cannot reach very far beyond its surroundings, nor 
can it be very appreciable. It is also quite evi- 
dent that neither a few scattered trees and bushes, 
nor a belt of trees, like a wind-break, nor a small 
clump of trees in a large open field, nor even an 
extensive orchard, can act singly as practically 
appreciable climatic factors, although all these 
aggregations of trees must have their influence 
upon their surroundings. 

It is the effectiveness with which sun and wind 
are excluded from the soil, and thereby air tem- 
peratures and air humidity are modified, that de- 
termines also the degree and distance beyond the 
limits of the cause to which the modification is felt. 



68 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

In other words, while the quality of the influence 
remains the same, its degree, and especially its 
effective and appreciable value, must vary as much 
as there are varying local conditions possible. The 
size and character of the forest, its density, height, 
situation, and composition, are of more importance 
in determining its influence than is usually realized 
by those who discuss the question. 

Another matter which it is also necessary to 
accentuate, because it is usually overlooked, is that 
the influence, if any, can only be of local charac- 
ter, it must therefore be discussed only with refer- 
ence to given local conditions. It cannot be put 
in comparison with that of the large oceans, the 
great air currents, the extensive mountain ranges, 
which determine the general or cosmic climate. 
The forest can modify only locally the effects of 
this general climate, in about the same manner as 
we modify it by building houses around us and 
heating them, whereby we change the temperature 
and moisture conditions at least in our habitation ; 
or by building cities, which we know differ, as far 
as our feeling is concerned, from the climate of 
the adjoining country. 

It may also be proper here to state that, in view 
of the fact that whatever influence exists, it is 
dependent on local conditions, the attempt to fix 
a certain general percentage of forest cover as 
necessary for a country is childish, and also that 
there are conditions where the existence of forest 



THE FOREST AS A CONDITION. 69 

growth is at least practically prevented by climatic 
conditions, — although the limits are by no means 
known, — and hence no expectation can be had of 
utilizing this influence in these conditions. 

Again, since undoubtedly the forest influence 
on surroundings, as far as climatic factors are con- 
cerned, can extend only to a limited distance, the 
most effective result must be secured by alterna- 
tions of forest cover and open land, hence the dis- 
tribution of these two conditions is of as much 
importance as the relative size of the parcels. 

Without going into the detail of the difference 
of meteorological conditions that may exist in the 
forest and the adjoining open country, it may be 
briefly stated that the tendency of a forest cover 
is to reduce extremes of high and low temperature 
in about the same manner as does a sheet of water, 
and this effect is most noticeable in the hot months. 
But whether and how far this temperature differ- 
ence is felt outside is not as yet determined. Nor 
do we know much regarding the important influence 
on the moisture conditions of the air and on the 
rainfall. The tendency of a forest growth would 
be, on account of its cooling effect, to keep the air 
within and to some extent above it nearer satura- 
tion, and as a consequence it might occur that 
moisture-bearing currents passing over would pre- 
cipitate their moisture more readily above or near 
the forest growth. Whether they do is still doubt- 
ful, and indeed, to make an appreciable difference 



I 

yo ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

in the amount of rainfall, it would appear that the 
forest area must be of considerable extent. 

Although some writers have, from existing meas- 
urements, argued an influence on precipitation, 
others have denied it. As stated above, we hold 
that no reliable rainfall measurements are, as yet, 
obtainable, and we must leave the question open. 

The more readily conceivable effect of a forest 
growth on moisture conditions of the air is that 
which it has in common, probably in increased 
degree, with the so-called wind-break. By break- 
ing the velocity of dry winds and possibly enriching 
them somewhat with moisture, the rate of evapo- 
ration over a neighboring field is considerably re- 
duced, so that, in regions where winds are common, 
the protection shows itself in increased crops on 
protected fields. 

The same protection against cold winds may 
make life more bearable, and enable the growing 
of crops which could otherwise not succeed. Thus 
it is believed that during the abnormal frosts 
which a few years ago killed most of the orange 
groves in Florida, many which had good forest 
shelter survived. It is also reported that in France 
the cultivation of the olive has become impossible 
in the more northern departments, owing to de- 
forestation. On the other hand, it may happen 
that the opening toward warmer southern winds 
may modify a severer climate favorably. This 
consideration again points to the entirely local 



THE FOREST AS A CONDITION. Jl 

character of forest influences, which may change 
their value. 

As far, then, as forest influence on climate is 
concerned, we must admit that no satisfactory con- 
clusions have been reached, excepting as to the 
favorable wind-break effect. That wholesale forest 
destruction and removal must change the climatic 
conditions of the denuded area seems an entirely 
reasonable assumption. 

The climatic influence of the forest upon its 
neighborhood would finally consist in the commu- 
nication of its own climatic characteristics ; i.e. 
shorter range of thermometrical extremes and more 
even humidity, in general modifying extremes of 
winter and summer. 

The influence on waterflow, although much fewer 
attempts at exact determination have been made, 
seems much more generally admitted. Here, too, 
extravagant claims have been made as to the 
efficacy of forest cover, while other factors which 
influence waterflow have been often given less 
consideration than they deserve. Thus the topog- 
raphy and the geologic structure exert necessarily 
a potent influence, which a forest cover may either 
not be sufficient or else is not needed to modify. 

The philosophy of the influence on waterflow 
rests mainly upon the recognition that the rain and 
snow waters penetrate more readily a forest-cov- 
ered soil than one that is bared of this protective 
cover. The action here is of a threefold nature : 



72 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

first, the mechanical obstruction which the foliage 
offers reduces the amount of the water which 
reaches the soil and lengthens the time during 
which it can do so ; the foliage, together with the 
loose litter of the forest floor, also reduces the 
compacting effect of the raindrops and the drying 
effect of sun and wind, and keeps the soil granular, 
so that the water can easily percolate ; then the 
mechanical obstruction which the litter, underbrush, 
and trunks, and possibly here and there moss, offer 
to the rapid surface drainage of waters, lengthens 
the time during which this percolation may take 
place; and thirdly, the network of deeply pene- 
trating roots, live and decayed, offers additional 
channels for a change of surface drainage into sub- 
drainage. In addition, it is claimed that, owing to 
the influence on temperature and moisture condi- 
tions of the air, together with reduced evaporation, 
more water becomes available to the soil, and cer- 
tainly the fact that the water, by ready percolation, 
is withdrawn from the dissipative effects of sun and 
wind must tend in this direction. 

The sponge theory so often proclaimed by lay 
writers is rather a misconception of physical laws 
and of the behavior of a sponge, although a moss- 
cover — which is by no means the usual cover of 
a forest soil — may be of great value in preventing 
rapid surface drainage. This is attested by Robert 
Gerwig, the builder of the St. Gotthard railway : — 

" One German square mile of moss-cover," he 



THE FOREST AS A CONDITION. 73 

says, "can retain 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 cubic 
meters of water (1 English square mile will hold 
14,000,000 to 20,000,000 cubic feet). It will, in 
many cases, depend on a difference of 20 to 30 
cubic meters (700 to 1000 cubic feet) per second 
of waternow from the surface of a square mile, 
whether a flood will be dangerous or not. The 
bare slope would give up these 20 to 30 cubic 
meters per second, and deliver the 1,000,000 
to 1,500,000 cubic meters in 15 hours. If it is 
remembered that damaging flood-waters are of 
short duration, it becomes evident how even mod- 
erate assumptions regarding the amount of water 
retained in the moss-cover (or in the forest litter 
and soil of a forest) produce favorable results." 

It stands to reason that in this direction the con- 
dition of the forest cover must have much to do 
with the degree of its effectiveness, and that in 
this connection the condition of the forest floor is 
of more moment than that of the leaf canopy. 
Hence we may find that while the tree growth 
may be left intact, yet, if the loose litter and under- 
brush has been burned off and the soil been com- 
pacted by the tramping of sheep and cattle, the 
effectiveness in regulating waternow is much im- 
paired. 

It is also apparent that with heavy rainfalls 
and on steep declivities on compact and sparsely 
fissured limestone rock, even the best-kept forest 
growth may not be capable of retarding the surface 



74 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

drainage long enough to prevent a resultant flood 
in the river. 

Particular interest in this connection attaches to 
the influence of forest cover on the melting of snow 
masses, which gives rise to spring floods. In the 
dense forest, the snow is usually less deep, a part 
being intercepted by the crowns of trees and evap- 
orated, and lies more uniformly, owing to the absence 
of drifting winds. It is a well-noted experience 
that it will lie in the shade of the woods from one 
to two weeks longer, i.e. melt so much more slowly. 
These elements of distribution in space and time 
must have an influence upon the rapidity of sur- 
face flow, and if the soil is not frozen, time is 
given for percolation and gradual removal. 

Here, again, weather conditions may be unfavor- 
able, the soil remaining frozen and the melting 
proceeding rapidly, when the forest effect may be 
lost. Nevertheless, while the forest effect may 
become powerless in exceptional cases and under 
special conditions, the tendency of changing sur- 
face drainage into subterranean drainage must be 
beneficial in the majority of cases. It may also 
happen that the soil conditions, by their loose 
structure, as in cinder cones, lava, or loose sand 
hills, are such as to permit percolation readily, 
when the office of the forest cover can be dispensed 
with. 

The value of the change of surface drainage 
into subterraneous drainage becomes apparent in 



THE FOREST AS A CONDITION. 75 

the more even riverflow. While the waters that 
run off over the surface collect rapidly and are car- 
ried away in floods, giving rise to high water stages, 
the percolated water finds its way into the river 
slowly by underground channels, feeding, on its 
way, springs and brooks, or is collected as ground 
water by seepage at lower levels. 

This distribution of the water, which lengthens 
the time during which the atmospheric precipita- 
tion can be usefully employed, and which, under 
circumstances, may lengthen the supply for years, 
the water reaching the river years after it fell on 
the mountain top, renders the riverflow indepen- 
dent of wet and dry seasons, and equalizes its 
flow, — a condition of most importance for all in- 
dustries dependent on water-power, navigation, irri- 
gation, etc. 

This forest effect on the run-off of terrestrial 
waters is naturally greatest and most important in 
mountainous regions, where the water has the 
tendency to collect quickly and to be carried off 
rapidly, but it also exists in the level plain, where 
it has the tendency to elevate the general ground- 
water level and thereby make a reserve available 
during times of drouth. 

In close connection with these effects of forest 
cover upon the flow of water stands its influence 
on the stability of the soil. The tendency of the 
rain waters falling on hills and mountains is to carry 
in their descent to the valley loose particles of soil 



j6 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

with them, and as the little rivulets run together 
and acquire force, gravel, stones, and even large 
rocks and boulders are broken loose and moved to 
lower levels by the torrent. This action, known 
as erosion, takes place everywhere more or less 
rapidly, according to the presence or absence and 
character of the soil cover, and no better and more 
efficient protection against it is to be found than a 
dense forest cover. 

A grass cover may also protect the soil under- 
neath against the erosive action of the waters, 
whenever the declivity is not too steep, but since 
the rains do not penetrate through the dense 
greensward of the mountain meadows, and hence 
are carried off superficially, they acquire a mo- 
mentum which finally leads to the same gullying 
and erosive action which a naked soil experiences. 

The forest alone is capable of obstructing the 
mechanical effect of the rainfall upon the soil, and 
retarding the rapid surface drainage which be- 
comes the carrier of the debris. Here, again, the 
condition of the forest floor, rather than the tree 
growth, is the effective element. 

If it is considered that, in the United States, the 
amount of erosion at present may be estimated at 
200 square miles per year, rendering thereby large 
areas of fertile soil unfertile and at least tempo- 
rarily useless for human occupancy, the economic 
importance of a conservative policy for the moun- 
tain forests may be readily apparent. 



THE FOREST AS A CONDITION. JJ 

The experiences of France in this particular 
are incontrovertible arguments, and furnish, in 
later years, experimental evidence of the effec- 
tiveness of a forest cover in arresting the progress 
of erosion. France, too, furnishes perhaps the 
most striking and most extensive example of how 
the loose, shifting sands, the dunes and sand hills 
in the plain, may be changed by a forest cover 
from a useless, nay dangerous, condition into one 
of profitable occupation. 

Regarding the sanitary influence of forests, there 
have also been many claims made which cannot be 
substantiated. The original principal claim was 
that the physiological action of the foliage, in ab- 
sorbing carbonic acid from the air and exhaling 
oxygen, made forest air healthier, but it has been 
calculated that the amount of- oxygen so exhaled is 
insignificant in proportion to the needs of human 
respiration, and is probably offset by the increase 
of carbonic acid resulting from the decomposition 
of organic matter in the forest. 

Then it was claimed that by the transpiration of 
the foliage wet ground may be drained, and thus 
made healthier, and in this connection the Eucalyp- 
tus plantations at the monastery of Tre Fontane in 
the Campagna Romana are frequently cited as hav- 
ing removed the malarial conditions of that region. 
As a matter of fact, the fevers still occur, even 
under the Eucalyptus plantation, although more 
rarely. This comparative improvement seems 



yS ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

attributable mainly to the rebuilding of the old 
Roman drainage canals, which had been allowed 
to collapse, and the malaria-breeding mosquitoes 
have been reduced thereby. In any case, where 
drainage is to be secured, artificial canalization 
could probably be made more effective than forest 
planting. Nevertheless, a sanitary influence exists, 
as every one can experience, but it is mainly of a 
negative character : absence of smoke, dust, obnox- 
ious gases, and of strong winds which characterize 
the air of cities, and which to some extent (at least 
dust and winds) occur in the open, renders a forest 
region more healthful. 

Furthermore, it has been found that forest air is 
more free from pathogenic microbes. Especially 
those bacilli which develop in the soil, like the 
cholera, typhus, and yellow fever bacilli, find in 
the forest soil less favorable conditions for develop- 
ment, and, owing to the absence of strong winds, 
are less apt to be carried into the air, where they 
would be breathed by man. In fact, in the dense 
forest, where the variation of soil moisture is small 
and decomposing humus keeps the soil acid, no 
pathogenic microbes have as yet been found. 
Here, too, to be sure, the degree of effectiveness 
must depend on the condition of the forest and 
especially of the forest floor. 

It is also not impossible that the opening of 
large swampy forest districts may improve health 
conditions by changing moisture conditions ; this 



THE FOREST AS A CONDITION. 79 

especially with regard to malarial diseases. These 
are not produced by bacilli, but by parasitic pro- 
tozoa (P/asmodtum malarice), which seem to thrive 
in the swamp conditions. As long as the water 
covers the soil, there is no danger, but as soon as 
the water recedes, the plasmodia develop, and with 
the assistance of mosquitoes or by other means are 
communicated to man. 

A further indirect sanitary influence must not be 
overlooked in our modern economy of city life. The 
recuperation of bodily energy and of spirit which 
an occasional sojourn in the cool, bracing, and in- 
spiriting forest air brings to the weary dweller in 
the city must not be underestimated as an element 
in the general health conditions of a people. In 
addition, the question of a good water supply is 
being recognized as more and more dependent 
upon the condition of the sources of supply. 

Knowing that a large number of diseases are 
bred in soils, it becomes essential that the drinking 
water carry as little soil particles as possible, and 
although, by artificial means of nitration and sedi- 
mentation, the river water may be freed of sand 
and bacilli, we would have more assurance of 
freedom from disease, if the water came from a 
well-forested region, where, as we have seen, no 
pathogenic bacteria are produced, and if the wash- 
ing of the soil into the river on the way to the 
reservoirs were prevented by proper attention to 
preventing the erosion along its banks. 



80 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Summarizing the present knowledge of forest 
influences and viewing it from the standpoint of 
the practical economist, it will appear that there is 
sufficient evidence of the value of properly located 
forest areas, as affecting at least water and soil 
conditions in a marked degree, and in a minor 
degree health and climatic conditions, to make the 
subject of forest conservancy one of great impor- 
tance. Especially is this the case with the forest 
cover on mountain sides and in the hill country, 
where the destructive tendencies of the water are 
apt to gather force, if not modified by the obstruc- 
tion of the forest floor. 

It is always to be kept in mind that not the 
extent, so much as the location and condition of 
the forest cover is of greatest importance, and that 
the effect can be determined only with reference 
to local conditions in every particular case. 

The protection of the soil cover at the head 
waters of streams thus becomes a concern of state 
activity, and the establishment of forest belts in 
drouth-ridden countries, or the fixation of sand 
dunes and drifting sands, becomes a public work of 
internal improvement. 

In the Appendix will be found further details 
regarding the measured forest influences, in the 
form of a resume, taken from Bulletin VII, 
Forestry Division, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 
entitled " Forest Influences," 1893, in which this 
question is exhaustively discussed. 



CHAPTER IV 
FOREST AND FORESTRY DEFINED 

From age to age the relations of man to man, 
and of man to nature, change according to the 
development of science and art and the progress 
of civilization in general. What was important 
once has lost its significance to-day, and what 
appears to us highly significant at the present 
time had no existence in the minds of our ances- 
tors. With these changes in our conditions and 
conceptions the language used in expressing them 
also changes ; not only does our vocabulary in- 
crease, but words long used change their meaning, 
sometimes so radically, that little is left of the 
first meaning. 

The conception and the word "forest" has in 
this way through historical development experi- 
enced a change to such an extent, that the original 
conception and meaning are almost, if not entirely, 
obliterated. In this change, both of conception 
and meaning, Teutonic development has made its 
impress. The word of Old High German origin, 
" voorst," used to designate the segregated prop- 
erty of the king, or leader of the tribe. Toward 
G Si 



82 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

the end of the eighth century, latinized into 
"foresta," or " forestis," it assumed a more re- 
stricted meaning, namely, as referring to all the 
royal woods, in which the right to hunt was re- 
served by the king, either for himself or for those 
of his vassals to whom he ceded the right to the 
chase. (See Appendix.) Gradually, however, the 
kings employed their royal prerogative of forbid- 
ding any kind of action, under threat of the " ban," 
in extending their exclusive right to the chase, not 
only to neighboring woods, but to fields as well. 

By and by the temporal and spiritual princes 
and feudal lords succeeded in having their own 
holdings protected in the same manner, and de- 
clared as " ban forests," as far as the hunting was 
concerned, and by the thirteenth century this pre- 
rogative was freely exercised by noble landholders. 
Under the plea of protecting the chase, the rights 
to cut wood (which had been free to all), to clear 
for agricultural use, and to pasture, were gradually 
restricted, and these restrictions, which had referred 
at first only to the property of the lords, were soon 
extended to apply also to the property of others 
which lay within the " ban," so that at the end of 
the ninth century a " forest " meant a large tract 
of land, including woods as well as pastures, fields, 
and whole villages, on which not only the rights to 
the chase were reserved to the king or his vassals, 
but the persons living on it in all their relations 
fell under the special jurisdiction of the "forest 



FOREST AND FORESTRY DEFINED. 83 

laws." It was then a legal term, and had no refer- 
ence to natural but only to legal conditions, with 
the royal prerogative, the right to hunt, as a basis. 
Afforesting and disafforesting were correspondingly 
the legal terms which denoted the placing of dis- 
tricts under the forest ban and forest laws, or their 
release from these restrictions. 

The forests of Dean, of Windsor, of Epping, of 
Sherwood, and the New Forest, in England, made 
famous by legend and history, were such districts, 
set aside by the Norman kings for their pastime. 1 

The care which, under the forest laws, was 
bestowed upon the woodlands by special officers 
called foresters, first for the sake of preserving the 
game, then for the sake of continuity of wood sup- 
plies, and the later release of the fields from the 
application of these laws, no doubt had a tendency 
to restrict the term forest again to the woodlands 
alone, until finally, with the decadence of the regal 
prerogative, the old meaning wore away entirely, 
and it referred no longer to a legal but to a 
natural condition, land covered with wood growth 

1 It is interesting to note that this mediaeval conception and use 
of the terms lingered until nearly the present day, as' evidenced by 
a suit at court, decided in 1862, instituted by one of the dukes of 
Athole in Scotland, who hold extensive mountain districts either in 
their own right or as " foresters " for the crown, in virtue of which 
one of them claimed the power of preventing his neighbor, the 
Laird of Lude, from killing deer on his own lands, and the right to 
enter the Laird's lands himself for the purpose. The courts decided 
adversely. 



84 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

in contradistinction to prairies and plains, meadow 
and field. 

In the German language, with the more intensive 
development in the rational treatment of the wood- 
lands, the limitation is carried farther, the word 
Forst being specific, and meaning the woods which 
are placed under management, the woods as an 
object of man's cultivatory activity, while the term 
Wald is generic, and refers to the natural condition 
of the soil cover. In the English language this 
distinction has not yet become settled ; especially 
in the United States the lexicographers seem to 
consider large extent and virgin or natural growth, 
an absence of cultivation, as distinctive attributes 
to the word forest, while the word woodlands is 
vaguely and inconsistently defined as the generic 
term for land covered or interspersed with trees 
and of less extent than forest, or else land on which 
" trees are suffered to grow either for fuel or tim- 
ber " (Webster), accentuating thereby relation to 
the uses of man. (See Appendix.) 

Etymology, linguistic sense, and as we believe 
actual usage, especially in the literature of later 
times, since the subject of forests and forestry has 
become prominent, would warrant us to define, more 
precisely, woodland as the general or generic 
term for land naturally covered with woody growth 
in contradistinction to land not so covered ; forest 
as the restricted or specific term, namely, woodland 
whether of natural growth or planted by man, con- 



FOREST AND FORESTRY DEFINED. 85 

sidered in relation to the economic interests of man 
and from the standpoint of national economy, as 
an object of man's care, a woodland placed under 
management for "forest purposes" and, we may 
also add, exhibiting "forest conditions" These 
last limitations are important ones and lead to the 
necessity of further definition. 

By the first restriction we exclude at once those 
lands covered with trees or woody growth, which 
serve other than forest purposes, such as coffee 
plantations, orchards, which are grown for fruit, 
roadside plantings and parks, which are planted or 
kept for shade and ornament, wind-breaks con- 
sisting of single rows of trees, which, although like 
the other conditions of tree growth mentioned may 
answer some functions of a forest growth, are not 
primarily intended to fulfil forest purposes and 
lack what we have called "forest conditions." 

The first and foremost purpose of a forest growth 
is to supply us with wood material ; it is the sub- 
stance of the trees itself, not their fruit, their beauty, 
their shade, their shelter, that constitute the pri- 
mary object of this class of woodland. 

With the settlement of the country and the grow- 
ing needs of civilization this use must and will 
attach as an essential predicate, a fundamental 
requisite, to any woodland left as such, whatever 
other purposes it may or may not be designed to 
subserve, temporarily or continuously. 

Thus if the state of New York withdraws from 



86 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

such use a large woodland area in the Adirondacks 
to subserve solely other purposes, this can be only 
a temporary withdrawal from its main purpose 
which time and intelligent conception of rational 
economy will reverse. 

Just so, if a private individual sets apart for the 
purpose of a game preserve a piece of woodland, 
and keeps out the axe which would utilize in part 
the useful timber, he frustrates the primary object 
of the forest growth temporarily and commits an 
economic mistake. 

Occasionally it is not the wood but some other 
part of the tree itself that is the main object of the 
harvest, as for instance the bark for tanning pur- 
poses or the resinous contents which are transformed 
into naval stores. Yet, as a rule, the wood too is 
utilized and at least forest conditions are main- 
tained in the production of the crop. But when 
it comes to a maple sugar orchard, expressly grown 
for the purpose, or the cork oak plantation, man- 
aged for the cork, the primary object not only 
begins to vanish, but also the second criterion of 
a forest, namely, forest conditions, is absent, and 
this kind of woodland ceases to fall properly under 
the term "forest," the designation of orchard or 
plantation being more appropriate. 

Besides the great primary object of forest growth, 
that of furnishing useful materials either of wood 
or parts of the wood substance, there has been rec- 
ognized indistinctly through all ages, more clearly 



FOREST AND FORESTRY DEFINED. * 87 

during the last century and with greater precision 
during the last thirty to forty years, that forest 
growth serves an object in the economy of nature 
and of man which under certain conditions may 
become equally if not more important than this 
direct primary one. 

We have learned that in general all conditions 
in nature are interrelated, and in particular that 
the condition of the surf ace cover of the ground not 
only influences more or less potently the condition 
of the soil and meteorological factors under the 
cover, but that this influence reaches even beyond 
the limits of the cover to its neighborhood ; and, with 
the recognition of this influence upon soil, temper- 
ature, and water conditions a new important forest 
use, namely, as a protective cover and climatic 
factor, has become established, so that we may dis- 
tinguish, according to whether the one or the other 
purpose becomes more prominent, supply forests 
and protection forests, although the latter invariably 
also furnish supplies, and finally, when pleasure 
and game cover are the main objects, we may speak 
of luxury forests. 

To fulfil either or both of the first two, more 
important functions satisfactorily or continuously, 
to furnish most useful material and to act as a 
protective cover, it is needful that the woodland 
designated as forest exhibit what we have called 
' ' forest conditions. ' ' 

A forest in the sense in which we use the term, 



88 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

as an economic factor, is by no means a mere col- 
lection of trees, but an organic whole in which all 
parts, although apparently heterogeneous, jumbled 
together by accident as it were and apparently 
unrelated, bear a close relation to each other and 
are as interdependent as any other beings and con- 
ditions in nature. 

Not only is there interrelation between plant 
and climate and between plant and soil conditions, 
but also an interrelation between the individuals 
composing the forest growth based on definable 
laws, and finally an interrelation between the 
arborescent growth and the lower vegetation ; the 
whole being a result of reactions of plant life to 
all surrounding influences and reciprocally of 
influences on all elements of its environment. 
Even the seemingly lawless mixture of species 
which we find in the virgin forest is not altogether 
fortuitous, but a result of such reactions. 

Out of these reactions and interrelations result 
conditions which we call forest conditions, and 
which not only distinguish the forest from other 
collections of trees or woodlands, but also impart 
a particular individuality and character to the 
forest growth of each locality. Even the virgin 
woodlands may lack what we conceive as ideal 
forest conditions, when in the struggle for ex- 
istence other forms of vegetation have still the 
advantage over the arborescent growth and hence 
forest purposes are imperfectly performed, or when 



FOREST AND FORESTRY DEFINED. 89 

the latter has not yet been able to fully establish 
itself under unfavorable soil and climatic condi- 
tions. In such cases, which are frequent in the 
arid and sub-arid and the arctic regions, the single 
stragglers of trees, the park-like open stand, their 
stunted and scrubby appearance may leave it doubt- 
ful whether the term "forest," with its economic 
significance, is applicable to these woodlands, or 
may exempt them from consideration under the 
term. 

Forest conditions, then, imply a more or less 
exclusive occupancy of the soil by arborescent 
growth, a close stand of trees, as a consequence 
of which a form of individual tree development 
results unlike that produced in the open stand, 
and a more or less dense shading of the ground 
which excludes largely the lower vegetation. 

By so much as these conditions are deficient, by 
so much does the forest fail to fulfil its economic 
functions, as a source of useful material and as 
a factor in influencing climatic and soil conditions. 

With regard to the first function, it must be 
understood that it is not wood simply that is 
required for the industries of man, but wood of 
certain qualities and sizes, such as are fit to be cut 
into lumber, as boards, planks, joists, scantlings, 
or into timber as beams, sills, and posts, into bolts 
free from blemish, which can be advantageously 
manufactured into the thousands of articles that 
are indispensable to human civilization. Such 



90 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

sizes and qualities combined are not as a rule pro- 
duced by trees in open stand. Their production 
requires the close stand, by which the trees are 
forced to reach up for light in order to escape the 
shade of their neighbors and all growth energy is 
utilized in the bole or trunk, the most useful part 
to man, instead of being dissipated in the growth 
of branches. The useful forest tree is the one 
that has grown up with close neighbors, which 
have deprived it of side light and thereby forced 
it to form a long cylindrical shaft, to shed its side 
branches early, which if persisting would have pro- 
duced knotty lumber, to confine its branch growth 
to the crown alone. 

Such conditions are also the most favorable in 
fulfilling the second function of the forest as regu- 
lator of waterflow and climate, for it is the shaded 
condition of the soil and the effective barrier to 
sun and winds, results of a dense stand, by which 
the forest exercises these regulatory functions. 

The history of the woodlands has been the same 
in all parts of the world, progressing according to 
the cultural development of the people. First the 
forest was valued as a harbor of game ; then it 
appeared as an impediment to agricultural devel- 
opment, and relentless war was waged against it, 
while at the same time the value of its material 
stores made it an object of greedy exploitation, and 
only in a highly civilized nation and in a well-settled 
country does the conception of the relation of for- 



FOREST AND FORESTRY DEFINED. 91 

ests to the future welfare of the community lead 
to a rational treatment of forests as. such for con- 
tinuity and to the application of the principles 
embodied in the science of forestry. 

There existed some knowledge as to the nature of 
forest growth and the advantages of its systematic 
use among the Romans and Greeks. Ancus Mar- 
cius, the fourth king of Rome (about 640 B.C.), 
claimed the forests as a public domain and placed 
them under special officers. Later, under the re- 
public, they were in special charge of the consuls. 
Subsequently the continuous wars seem to have 
wiped out not only the administrative features but 
the forests themselves, and the Italians of modern 
times until lately had no more conception of the 
importance of the forest cover than the people of 
the United States, so that Italy to-day furnishes 
about as good an object lesson as any country of 
the evil effects of forest devastation. 

The real art of forestry is unquestionably of 
Teutonic origin, or was at least conceived rather 
early among the Germanic tribes ; the first attempts 
at it seem to antedate even Charlemagne's time. 

Long before the royal prerogative of the chase 
lent an incentive to conservative treatment, there 
existed among the communistic villagers, who were 
aggregated in the so-called " Mark," owning all 
their land in common, crude but systematic at- 
tempts at rational utilization and even reproduction. 
The amount of wood that might be harvested with- 



92 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

out detriment to future crops was determined, 
the better kind of timber being more economically 
cut, and the timber to be cut was designated by 
officials, whose duty it was to superintend the fell- 
ing, the removal, and even the use of the same. 
By and by even the firewood was designated, the 
dead and inferior material being assigned for it. 
Charring and boxing for resin were carried on 
under precautions. The number of swine to be 
allowed in the oak and beech forests was deter- 
mined according to the quantity of seed mast. 
Grazing in the woods was allowed only under cer- 
tain regulations as to districts and number of cattle 
for every " Marker." The great damage by sheep 
and goats was recognized and their pasturing in 
the woods prohibited as early as 1 1 58. Even an 
Arbor-day was anticipated in some parts, each 
man having to plant, under the supervision of the 
forester, a number of trees proportionate to his 
consumption. 

In 1368, the city of Nuremberg began on a larger 
scale systematic reforestation of waste lands with 
pines, which was imitated by other communities, 
and we have documentary evidence that in 1491 a 
regular system of annual sowings of oak was in 
existence in the communal forests of Seligenstadt. 
By the end of the fifteenth century, indeed, fully 
organized forest administrations existed, and various 
" Forstordnungen " (forest ordinances) prescribed 
in detail the manner of exploiting and reestablish- 



FOREST AND FORESTRY DEFINED. 93 

ing of wood crops, and trespasses of all kinds were 
punished with heavy penalties." 

The first beginnings, then, of a rational forest 
management were of democratic origin, — a man- 
agement by the people for the people, who held 
the welfare of the community higher than the satis- 
faction of the greed of the few. To be sure, this 
state of things did not last. The Thirty-years 
War, which extirpated many of the cities and vil- 
lages, and brought other economic changes, reduced 
their holdings of forest property, which fell into 
the hands of princes and the nobility, and gradually 
the communal forest was supplanted by the royal 
or lordly forest, or through partition by the private 
forest of the single farmer. Then came a period 
of decline in forest management. Private greed 
disregarded the many regulations and ordinances 
against devastation. Fires ruined large areas in 
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and in 
addition excessive exploitation reduced the forest 
area in extent and brought it into poor condition. 
That era, reaching partly into the beginning of 
the nineteenth century, presents conditions some- 
what similar to those with which we are now con- 
fronted in this country. The Revolution of 1792 
opened wide the doors to the destructive element, 
and the teachings of Adam Smith still further 
reduced the wholesome restrictive functions of 
governments, and induced a movement to sell all 
government property. The damage which France 



94 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

— up to that time living under a tolerably well 
developed forest policy — is now working to repair 
resulted from these times of forest dismemberment 
and forest destruction. Naturally voices against 
this reckless procedure became louder and louder, 
as the effects of continued forest devastation and 
improper clearing became more and more visible, 
and, as the governments became stronger after the 
Napoleonic wars, reconstruction and return to con- 
servative policies were bound to follow. At the same 
time the technical part of forestry, the methods of 
forestry practice, had been gradually developed in an 
empiric way, and with the development of natural 
sciences were placed on a more stable basis and 
taught in special forestry schools and at universi- 
ties by the end of the eighteenth and beginning 
of the nineteenth century. We can fairly well 
compare our present movement in the United 
States on behalf of rational forest management 
with what was going on in Germany a hundred 
years ago. A fuller study into the history of this 
movement in the old countries, at which we have 
here glanced only briefly, would aid better than 
any academic discussions and arguments to a full 
understanding of both the economic and technical 
problems involved. 

In the pioneer days of a newly settled country, 
which is forest-covered like the eastern United 
States, man by necessity must remove a part of the 
forest growth for the purpose of gaining ground for 



FOREST AND FORESTRY DEFINED. 95 

food production. That part which is not cleared for 
such purpose he exploits, usually regardless of the 
conditions in which he leaves it, cutting out the best 
trees of the most useful species or else cutting off 
the entire growth and leaving nature to take care 
of the future. 

When this crude forest exploitation and destruc- 
tive process has gone on so long that virgin sup- 
plies are nearly exhausted, that the effects of 
inconsiderate clearing or forest devastation be- 
comes visible in soil washes, in high and low 
water stages of rivers, more frequent and more 
destructive floods, etc., then he begins to consider 
more carefully the relation which the forest and 
its continuance bears toward the further develop- 
ment of society, toward the conditions of his sur- 
roundings ; he realizes that he may not continue 
to disturb the balance of nature unpunished, nay, 
that he must be active in improving the methods 
of nature, and weight that side of the balance 
which is favorable to him and his pursuits; he 
begins to bring more rational method into his use 
of the forest, he attempts to apply knowledge and 
care in its treatment, he makes it an object of eco- 
nomic thought, in other words he arrives at a first 
conception of and applies forestry, which may be 
most comprehensively defined as the rational treat- 
ment of forests for forest purposes. First he deter- 
mines upon a rational policy for his further conduct 
toward the forest, and then, having studied the 



96 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

manner in which forests grow, having become 
familiar with the science of forestry, he develops 
superior positive methods in treatment and per- 
petuation of the forest and applies the art of for- 
estry ; and, adding the financial aspect in the 
application of the art, he practises the business 
of forestry. 

In its broadest sense thus the term " forestry," ac- 
cording to the point of view, represents a policy, a 
science, an art, a business. A policy is a general 
plan of behavior, a general line of conduct with 
reference to our affairs, embodying the philosophy, 
the motives and object of our programme. By de- 
termining upon a policy with reference to a resource 
like the forest, we assign it a place in our political 
or domestic economy, we make up our mind as to 
what to do with it. It is from this point of view 
that this volume proposes to discuss the subject. 

Such a policy we naturally base on knowledge 
or science which furnishes us the reason for our 
policy, the why to do. This science of forestry 
comprises all the knowledge regarding forest 
growth, — its component parts, the life history of 
the species, and their behavior under varying condi- 
tions, its development and dependence upon natu- 
ral conditions, its retroactive influence upon those 
natural conditions, in short its place in the economy 
of nature and of man. 

When we come to formulate our knowledge into 
rules of procedure and apply the same to the 



FOREST AND FORESTRY DEFINED. 97 

treatment of forest areas specifically, we begin to 
practise the art of forestry — we learn hoiv to do ; 
and finally, applying this art systematically for the 
purpose for which all technical arts are carried on, 
namely, for money results, we come to practise the 
business of forestry. 

Like agriculture, forestry is concerned in the 
use of the soil for crop production ; as the agri- 
culturist is engaged in the production of food-crops, 
so the forester is engaged in the production of 
wood-crops, and finally both are carrying on their 
art for the practical purpose of a revenue. 

Forest crop production is the business of the pro- 
fessional forester. 

A forester then is not, as the American public 
has been prone to apply the word, one who knows 
the names of trees and flowers, a botanist; nor 
even one who knows their life history, a dendrolo- 
gist ; nor one who, for the love of trees, proclaims 
the need of preserving them, a propagandist ; nor 
one who makes a business of planting parks or 
orchards, an arboriculturist, fruit grower, land- 
scape gardener, or nurseryman ; nor one who cuts 
down trees and converts them into lumber, a wood- 
chopper or a lumberman ; nor one set to prevent 
forest fires or depredations in woodlands, a forest 
guard ; nor even one who knows how to produce 
and reproduce wood-crops, a silviculturist ; but 
in the fullest sense of the term, a forester is a 
technically educated man who, with the knowledge 

H 



98 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

of the forest trees and their life history and of all 
that pertains to their growth and production, com- 
bines further knowledge which enables him to 
manage a forest property so as to produce certain 
conditions resulting in the highest attainable rev- 
enue from the soil by wood-crops. 

The virgin forest grows where it pleases, and as 
it pleases, without reference to the needs of man. 
It covers the rich agricultural soils as well as the 
dry and thin soils of the mountain slope and top ; it 
may encumber the ground which can more profit- 
ably be employed in the production of food-mate- 
rials, and it may be absent where its protection 
is needed for human comfort or for successful 
agriculture. 

Nature produces weeds — tree weeds — and use- 
ful species side by side ; she does not care for the 
composition of the crop ; tree growth, whatever the 
kind, satisfies her laws of development; nor has 
she concern with the form of the component trees, 
— they may be branched and crooked, short and 
tapering. In time, in a long time, she too may 
produce long clear shafts, but by her methods 
such results will only be accomplished in cen- 
turies ; nature takes no account of time or space, 
both of which are lavishly at her command. The 
area of virgin forest which we harvest to-day has 
produced a tithe of the useful material which it is 
capable of producing, and has taken two to three- 
fold the time which it would take under skilful 



FOREST AND FORESTRY DEFINED. 99 

direction to secure better results, quantitatively 
and qualitatively. 

It is in the application of the economic point 
of view, in relegating forest growth to non-agri- 
cultural soils, in influencing its composition and 
its development toward usefulness, in securing its 
reproduction in a manner more satisfactory to 
human wants and human calculations, than na- 
ture's fitful performances promise, that the for- 
ester's forest differs. 

Forestry in more or less developed form is 
begun when this economic point of view is ap- 
plied, when care, however slight, is bestowed 
upon the virgin wood to secure its improvement 
and continuance. 

Before the finer methods of forest management 
become practicable under such economic condi- 
tions as surround us, a common-sense manage- 
ment may be possible, which consists in more 
careful utilization of the natural forest, protecting 
it against fire, fostering young volunteer growth 
of the better kinds, by keeping out cattle, and in 
general avoiding whatever prevents a satisfactory 
reproduction of the natural woods. For large 
sections of this country, this will for some time 
to come be the only forestry that is practicable, 
namely, wherever distance from market for infe- 
rior material makes finer methods unprofitable or 
impracticable. 

Finally, however, the art in its fullest and finest 

L.ofC. 



100 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

development will become applicable through the 
length and breadth of our country, just as in the 
old countries. 

As in every productive industry, so in the fores- 
try industry we can distinguish two separate yet 
necessarily always closely interdependent branches, 
namely, the technical art which concerns itself 
with the production of the material, and the busi r 
ness art which concerns itself with the orderly, 
organized conduct of the industry of production. 

Since the materials and forces of nature are the 
source of the mighty processes of organic life 
which find expression in forest growth, the art of 
forest crop production naturally relies mainly upon 
a knowledge of natural sciences, by which the 
forester may be enabled to direct and influence 
nature's forces into more useful production, than 
its unguided activity would secure. 

The nature of the plant material, its biology, its 
relation to climate and soil, must be known to 
secure the largest, most useful, and most valuable 
crop ; that portion of botany which may be segre- 
gated as dendrology — the botany of trees in all 
its ramifications — must form the main basis of the 
forester's art. To study such a segregated portion of 
the large field of botanical science presupposes, to be 
sure, a sufficient amount of general botanical knowl- 
edge. In order to know, recognize, and classify his 
materials the methods of classification, the general 
anatomy and histology, must be familiar to him, 



FOREST AND FORESTRY DEFINED. 1 01 

as well as general physiology and biology ; finally, 
he must specialize and become an expert on bio- 
logical dendrology, i.e. a knowledge of the life 
history, the development, and dependence upon 
surroundings, the ecology, of trees, in individuals 
as well as in communities, — a very special study, 
to which few botanists have as yet given much 
attention. Forest- crop production, or silviculture, 
in its widest sense, may be called applied dendrol- 
ogy. And the forester is not satisfied only to know 
the general features of the biology of the species, 
their development from seed to maturity, their 
requirements regarding soil and light conditions, 
but as he is a producer of material for revenue, he 
is most emphatically interested in the amount of 
production and the rate at which this production 
takes place. Far different from the agriculturist's 
crop, his is not an annual one, but requires many 
years of accumulations, and as each year's waiting 
increases the cost of production by tying up the 
capital invested, it is of importance not only to 
know the likely progress of the crop, the mathe- 
matics of accretion, but also how its progress may 
be influenced. 

In this connection the study of geology and 
meteorology, of soil and climate, the factors of site, 
is required, as far as necessary to understand the 
relationship of plant life to surroundings, and 
teach the chemico-physical basis for wood produc- 
tion. The protection of his crop not only against 



102 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

climatic ills, but against enemies of the animal and 
plant world, requires studies in that direction, and 
finally to harvest his crop and bring it to market and 
dispose of it to best advantage calls for engineering 
knowledge and acquaintance with wood technology. 

The business side of the forestry industry, which 
we call forest economy, relies mainly upon mathe- 
matical calculations and the application of princi- 
ples of political economy. The fact that the time 
from the start of the crop to the harvest may be 
fifty, one hundred, or more years — the time it 
takes to grow a useful size of timber — necessitates 
a more thoroughly premeditated and organized 
conduct, more complicated profit calculations, more 
careful plans, than in any other business which 
deals with shorter time periods. 

In this connection one of the first and most im- 
portant mathematical problems for the forester to 
settle, is when his crop is ripe. This is not as 
with agricultural crops and fruits determined by 
a natural period, but by the judgment of the har- 
vester, based upon mathematical and financial 
calculations. 

There are various principles which may be fol- 
lowed in determining the maturity of a stand, or 
what is technically called the rotation, i.e. the time 
within which a forest, managed as a unit, shall be 
cut over and reproduced ; but all rely finally upon 
measurements of the quantity of production as 
basis of the business calculation, and hence forest 



FOREST AND FORESTRY DEFINED. 



103 



mensuration has been developed into a special 
branch of mathematics and many methods have 
been developed, by which not only the volume 
and rate of growth of single trees, but of whole 
stands, can be more or less accurately determined. 
Similarly, finance calculations have been more 
fully developed in the forestry business than are 
usually practised in any other business excepting 
perhaps Life Insurance. 

Without going into further details of the con- 
tents of the science of forestry, reserving for two 
chapters a fuller discussion of the two main 
branches, a comprehensive view may be gained 
by the following systematic statement of the vari- 
ous branches into which forestry may be divided. 

SYSTEM OF FORESTRY KNOWLEDGE. 

1. Forestry Statistics. 
Areas : forest conditions — distribution — 

composition. 
Products : trade — supply and demand — 
prices — substitutes. 

2. Forestry Economics. 
Study of relation of forests to climate, 

soil, water, health, ethics, etc. 
Study of commercial peculiarities, and 
position of forests and forestry in po- 
litical economy. 

3. History of Forestry. 

4. Forestry Policy. 
Formulating rights and duties of the 

state, forestry legislation, state forest 
administration, education. 









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5. Forest Botany. 

Dendrology, systematic and biologic — 
forest geography — forest weeds. 

6. Factors of Site. 

Soil physics, soil chemistry, meteorology 
and climatology with reference to forest 
growth. 

7. Timber Physics. 

Structure, physical and chemical proper- 
ties of wood, influences determining 
same, diseases and faults. 

8. Wood Technology. 

Application of wood in the arts — require- 
ments — working properties — use of 
minor and by-products. 

9. Silviculture. 

Methods of producing the crop and influ- 
encing its progress. 

10. Forest Protection. 

Forest entomology — climatic injuries — 
fire, etc. 

11. Forest Utilization. 

Methods of harvesting, transporting, pre- 
paring for market. 

12. Forest Engineering. 

Road building — water regulation — treat- 
ment of special cases, sand dunes, bar- 
ren swamps, moors, denuded slopes. 



FOREST AND FORESTRY DEFINED. 



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'13. Forest Survey. 

Area and boundary — topography — as- 
certaining forest condition — establish- 
ing units of management and adminis- 
tration. 

14. Forest Mensuration. 

Methods of ascertaining volumes and 
rates of growth of trees and stands, 
and determining yields. 

15. Forest Valuation, Statics, and Finance. 

Ascertaining money value of forest prop- 
erties and financial results of different 
methods of management, and compar- 
ing same. 

16. Forest Regulation. 

Preparing working plans, determining 
felling budgets, and organizing for con- 
tinuous wood and revenue production. 

17. Forest Administration. 
Organization of a forestry service : busi- 
ness practice and routine, including for- 
est law and business law applicable to 
forestry practice. 



Besides these essential and directly applicable branches of 
knowledge, it is desirable that the manager of a large forest 
property have also some knowledge of fish and game preser- 
vation, and of agriculture, if game, fish, meadows, agricultural 
lands, form integral parts of the property. 



CHAPTER V. 

FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION AND BUSINESS 

ASPECTS. 

Forestry, as we have seen, is, like agriculture, 
concerned in producing continuously crops or 
equivalent money values from the use of the soil ; 
yet forestry differs from agriculture, not only in 
the kind of crop, but it differs totally in the man- 
ner of producing the crop and in the use and com- 
bination of all the factors of production. 

This difference is mainly brought about by that 
element in production by which forest production 
differs from all other productive industries, namely, 
the time element. 

Agricultural crops are usually ready for harvest 
the same year they are planted, or at least in a 
year or two ; orchard-crops require a few years to 
establish the basis for an annual or biennial return 
of crops ; but a wood-crop does not become useful 
until many years' growth has been accumulated. 

Every year a new layer of wood is laid on, 
over the layers that have been formed before, 
cornucopia-like, increasing the wood plant in 
height and circumference and consequently in 

1 06 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 107 

volume. The crop is ready for harvest when a 
sufficient number of annual growths is accumu- 
lated to make wood of useful size. This differs 
according to the use to which the material is to be 
put. 

A five to ten years' growth of some kinds might 
suffice for hop and bean poles, for barrel hoops, 
canes, and the like ; at fifteen to twenty years the 
crop might furnish in addition some fence posts and 
poles as well as firewood, especially if grown from 
coppice. At fifty years some of the trees may 
have in part accumulated sufficient size to furnish 
bolts for the manufacture of carriage stock, hubs, 
and spokes, or small cooperage and other articles 
of small dimension, or even railroad ties and tele- 
graph poles. But with most species which are 
used to supply the large demands of the lumber 
market, sizes fit for the sawmill are in the temper- 
ate zones attained hardly in less than 75 to 100 
years ; while most of the trees that are now cut 
for that purpose nature has taken 150 to 200 years 
and up to 500 years or more to produce. 

In addition to size, quality, too, is a function of 
age, improving as a rule with increase in size. To 
produce a sawlog which will furnish a sufficiently 
large amount of clear boards free from knots, many 
years must have elapsed to cover with annual 
layers the stumps of branchlets of the younger 
tree, which by the shading of neighbors were 
killed and broken off by winds or otherwise. 



108 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Moreover, the wood of many species undergoes 
a chemical change as yet unexplained, but supposed 
to improve its quality, or, as in the black walnut, 
its usefulness, — the change into heart-wood, which 
begins earlier or later with different species and 
progresses more or less slowly, so that, while the 
useful size and form may have been attained, the 
useful quality may still have to be waited for. 

As the tree develops, it exhibits in all its parts 
the various sizes and qualities of all its stages of 
development, but in varying relative proportion, 
and as the log timber of the bole begins to pre- 
ponderate over the branch and brushwood of the 
crown, naturally the value production increases, and 
influences the financial result of the production. 

Now, the accumulation of annual layers of wood 
does not proceed by any means in a regular, even 
rate of equal proportions for each year. Not only 
is this rate of accretion varying with every species, 
and with every difference in soil and climate and 
other surrounding conditions, and with the seasons, 
but it differs in the different life periods of the 
tree. 

The soft, light-wooded trees, like the Cottonwood, 
aspen, silver maple, willow, and others, start out with 
a rapid growth, making good-sized trees in thirty 
to forty years, then rapidly decline in the rate of 
growth, and soon cease almost entirely, being com- 
paratively short-lived. Others, like many of our 
important, hardwoods and useful conifers, grow 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 109 

slowly in their youth, then increase in their rate, 
continuing for a long time in an even, rapid devel- 
opment, then persisting at a slower but uniform 
rate to an old age. 

If we were to utilize these latter as soon as they 
reach useful size and then renew the crop, we would 
again and again repeat the period of slow growth, 
and hence lose in relative quantity of production. 
If, on the other hand, we allowed the soft woods 
mentioned to grow beyond the stage of rapid 
growth, we would lose equally at the other end. 
The study of rates of growth of species and of 
quantitative production of stands of different 
species, the mathematics of forest growth, the 
results of forest mensuration, is so important a 
matter that we devote to it a special chapter. 

Here we only wish to point out that, among the 
factors of production, time plays a much greater 
role than in any other business, and in fact influ- 
ences the use of all other factors of production and 
methods of procedure to such an extent, that, if 
forestry be carried on as a business by itself, its 
conduct becomes in many respects sui generis. 

The time when the crop is ready for the harvest, 
it will be apparent from the above considerations, 
is not a matter of natural period as in the ripening 
of fruits, but depends not only upon many com- 
plex considerations, varying with species and soil 
and climate, but upon market conditions, econom- 
ical considerations, and industrial requirements, and 



110 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

is determined by the judgment of the harvester; 
it is a matter of choice influenced by technical, 
financial, and national economic points of view. 

The time which elapses between the first estab- 
lishment of the crop and the harvest is technically 
called rotation or revolution or tumus, involving 
the idea of return to the same area for harvest, 
again and again; its determination is one of the 
most important problems for the business man- 
ager, and will find consideration in a later chapter. 

Besides the time element, there are, as in every 
producing business, three factors of production to 
be considered, which in varying combinations pro- 
duce the result, the creation of values — namely, 
nature, labor, and capital. 

The relative significance of each of these pro- 
ductive forces, as is well known, varies in every 
industry, and also to a degree with the intensity of 
their management. Forestry being the twin sister 
of agriculture, both attempting to produce values 
from the soil, it is natural to compare these two 
industries with reference to the part which each of 
the factors of production takes in it. It is difficult, 
if not impossible, to compare these industries with- 
out assuming as a basis a more or less equal 
development and degree of intensity. In our 
country, forestry as a business does not exist as 
yet, except in small beginnings here and there and 
without intensity, while agriculture, also, is as yet 
relatively poorly developed as an industry upon a 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. in 

scientific basis. Forest exploitation, the mere rob- 
bing of the natural forest resources, and extensive 
farming, agricultural rapine, the robbing of soils 
of their native fertility, are as yet mainly prac- 
tised. 

In trying to find economic differences in princi- 
ple between the two industries, we must, therefore, 
for illustrations, largely rely upon countries where 
both the forestry and the farming industry are fully 
developed side by side, and have reached a high de- 
gree of intensity, as in Europe. In comparing the 
two industries under such conditions, we will find 
that they differ widely in the relative significance 
and importance which the three factors of produc- 
tion assume. For while in agriculture the factor 
of labor is most important, nature second, and 
capital last, in the forestry business, in general, the 
reliance on nature is greatest, on capital next, 
while labor plays a less important part. 

The fact that nature unassisted has produced 
the virgin woods, which furnish us satisfactory 
materials, while agricultural production is almost 
entirely dependent on human effort, will at once 
settle the relative importance of these two factors. 
Even when the mere exploitation of natural woods 
is supplanted by the systematic application of 
skill and labor in reproducing wood crops, the ele- 
ment of labor remains less important, for during 
the long period from seed to harvest time the for- 
ester can do but little to influence the progress of his 



112 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

crop, and must allow nature and time to mature 
it; while the farmer is constantly busy during 
the progress of his annual crop, cultivating it to 
secure best results ; annually, ploughing and sow- 
ing recur ; or, if he apply himself to pasturing, his 
attendance upon the cattle is incessant, his busi- 
ness is "labor-intensive." The forester's crop 
grows mostly unattended ; only when harvest time 
comes is he busy ; and since, as we will see farther 
on, he may reproduce his crop without direct labor 
by the mere manner of harvesting the old crop, 
even seeding time may not call for much effort ; 
his business is " labor-extensive." And since most 
of his work comes during the late fall and winter, 
and ceases during the growing season, he cannot 
offer continuous employment for many workmen, 
and must rely largely upon an unstable crew, as 
does the lumberman. On the other hand, much 
of his work, although dependent on the season, 
is not limited so closely as regards the time of its 
performance as is the farmer's, and it is possible 
to concentrate or lengthen out the work more or 
less, as desirable. The fact that most of the forest 
work falls into the winter time, when farm labor is 
idle, is of the utmost economic value where a dense, 
poor population must find continuous employment 
through the year. 

If we compare these conditions in a country 
where both agriculture and forestry are most highly 
developed, as in Germany, we will find that agricul- 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 113 

ture occupies for the same acreage from 10 to 20 
to even 30 times as much labor according to inten- 
sity of management, as forestry, 1 namely, 15 to 50 
laborers continuously employed on 250 acres of 
farm as against 1 to 3, or in the average 2 laborers 
on the same acreage of forest. The 35,000,000 
acres of German forest afford only $1 per acre in 
labor earnings, while, to be sure, they also give rise 
to a labor earning of over $3 per acre in wood- 
working industries. 

In other directions, too, does the labor question 
differ in the forest. While in agriculture intensive 
application of labor produces equivalent improve- 
ment in results, such improvement can in forestry 
rarely and only to a limited degree be secured by in- 
creased labor. Not only is most labor in the forest 
technically simple, very little skill being needed 
and very little variety offered, but it permits piece- 
work to a much larger extent than is practicable 
on the farm, while opportunity for the use of ma- 
chinery is very limited, or at least as yet little 
developed. Nor does it permit much division, 
organization, specialization, such as is practised in 
manufacturing establishments. 

The greater intensity with which agriculture can 

1 The Prussian state forest administration of nearly 7,000,000 
acres employs one official for every 1465 acres, namely, 1 guard 
(Forster u. Waldwarter) for every 1800 acres, I manager (Oberfors- 
ter) for every 9800, and I inspector (Oberforstmeister u. Forstrath) 
for every 61000 acres; and the common labor represents the annual 
employment of one man for every 175 acres. 
1 



114 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

be profitably practised also makes a difference in 
the amount of superintendence which it necessi- 
tates. While an intensively managed farm of 250 
acres would occupy a superintendent fully, a hun- 
dred times such acreage in forest may be placed 
under one manager to execute the working plans if, 
according to location and conditions, he is assisted 
by a number of guards. 

The protection of the property, indeed, requires 
under circumstances the comparatively largest at- 
tention. In German forest administrations, one 
guard is employed for every 500 to 2000 acres, 
exercising mainly police functions, which the dense 
indigent population, prone to stealing and trespass 
of various kinds, necessitates. 

In India, 1 with a forest area under more or less 
intensive management of 75,000,000 acres, of which 
about two-thirds are reserved, the rest only pro- 
tected — after various reorganizations since 1 864 
when the first administration was organized, — the 
controlling staff consists of 1 inspector general, 
19 conservators, 117 deputy conservators, 63 
assistant conservators, and 112 provincial con- 
servators, or all together 312 officers, double the 
number employed in 1885 ; the executive and pro- 
tective service is satisfied with 1663 rangers and 
foresters and 8533 guards; all together 10,508 

1 These figures refer to conditions in the year 1900, and are taken 
from the excellent book, "Forestry in India," by B. Ribbentrop, 
Inspector General. 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 1 15 

permanent employees, or one to a little less than 
7500 acres, are at present required. 

The gross income of this largest forestry estab- 
lishment in the world, constantly growing, was in 
1892 to 1897 only about $8,000,000, while the ex- 
penditures represented 55 per cent of the gross 
revenue, of which over $2,000,000 was paid for 
the permanent service. 

With us, where for the present less intensive 
management must form the rule, and where in 
some respects properties are less endangered, the 
size of a superintendent's and a guard's district 
may be four times as large and more. 

While the conduct of the business requires a 
small amount of labor, it is a peculiarity of the 
business that the formulation of working plans to 
be followed by the manager requires not only much 
more careful consideration, and also involves a con- 
siderable amount of skilled labor in securing the 
data, while their circumspect use requires a good 
deal more judgment than would be needed in a 
business which can change its modus operandi 
readily every year. 

It will have appeared from this discussion of the 
relation of labor to the industry, that the size of 
the area upon which forestry is to be practised not 
only may, but must, be of considerable acreage if 
it is to be carried on profitably as a business by 
itself, if for no other reason than to occupy the 
manager fully and to leave enough margin for the 



Il6 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

owner. While the small farm, owing to the possi- 
bility of increasing returns to increased labor, and 
hence a relatively large return per acre, can exist, — 
the small farm earning per acre as much as the 
large one, or more, — the small wood-lot cannot exist 
as a separate business proposition ; only as attached 
to a farm or other business can it have economic 
justification, but, as we will see later, it is even then 
at a disadvantage from mere silvicultural points of 
view. 

The indirect employment of labor to which for- 
est products give rise in transportation and final 
shaping and use of the wood material is probably 
greater than with farm crops. 

We referred just now to the amount of labor 
earnings of $3 which each acre of forest pro- 
duces in woodworking establishments in Prussia. 
In our own country the forest products annually 
consumed involve the moving over shorter or 
longer distances of not less than 500,000,000 tons, 
or, if we only refer to the lumber product, at least 
100,000,000 tons must be handled to and from the 
mill and yard, which, if the average haul were not 
over 100 miles, may readily involve a cost of 
$150,000,000 to $200,000,000, while $300,000,000 
is about the amount of wages paid to the 500,000 
employees occupied in transforming the raw forest 
product into articles of trade, and $100,000,000 
to the loggers and mill men. With these and 
other figures (see Appendix) we come to an esti- 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 117 

mate which brings the labor earnings for our 500,- 
000,000 acres of forest, that are being exploited but 
not managed, to not less than $600,000,000, or per- 
haps one laborer for each 250 acres, as a lowest fig- 
ure. The 360,000,000 acres of improved farm land 
reported in the census of 1890 occupied only one 
man for every 43 acres and the total crop translated 
into weight remains considerably below 200,000,000 
tons, including meat, milk, butter, cheese, etc. It 
is well-nigh impossible to get even approxima- 
tions to the number of laborers employed in con- 
version of these foodstuffs, but the likelihood is 
that all together not more labor earnings can be 
credited to one acre of farm land than to the acre 
of forest land. This disparity is probably explained 
by the lack of intensity in farming, and the proba- 
bility that much of the farm land does not really 
participate in the crop, lying idle. 

If there exists, then, great difference regarding 
the amount a ad character of the labor element in 
agricultural and forest production, the use of the 
element of nature shows no less difference in the 
two industries. 

Not only is the element of nature relatively 
much more prominent in forest production, but the 
single factors, soil and climate, have different sig- 
nificance. For a crop which must withstand the 
rigors of winter and the variable conditions of all 
seasons, not for one, but for many years, and which 
by its character forbids the expedients of cultiva- 



Il8 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

tion on which the farmer relies, special considera- 
tions regarding the relation of crop to climate occur. 
While most of our farm crops come originally from 
climates very different from those in which they 
are now grown, the possibility of extending forest 
crops beyond their native limits is very much more 
circumscribed, and even with native species the 
climatic influences of frost, drought, winds, require 
the adaptation of the crop to the site, and after- 
treatment different from farm crops. On the other 
hand, where, as in the high altitudes and northern 
latitudes, agriculture finds its climatic limits, forest 
cropping is still possible ; again, good farm crops 
may be raised in the semi-arid regions, where forest 
crops, while possible to establish, must by necessity 
be of only inferior value. Agriculture deals almost 
entirely with vegetable products, which, to be sure, 
originated with nature, but have been improved by 
man for human use ; its products are, if we may be 
permitted to exaggerate, unnatural, artificial ones, 
and the possibility of varying their character and 
adapting them to climatic conditions seems almost 
unlimited. 

Wood-crops, on the other hand, are still, even 
under the forester's hand, as nature unaided can 
and does produce them ; the possibility of influenc- 
ing their character is exceedingly limited : under 
the skilful guidance of the forester, to be sure, the 
manner in which the wood is deposited on boles 
and branches, the development of clear long shafts 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 119 

in preference to low-crowned and branched trees, 
and to a slight extent the structure of the annual 
ring, can be directed; but so far the wood of nature's 
production and that of man's are very nearly if not 
quite the same, and forms which are better adapted 
to climatic or soil conditions have not been bred by 
man. The short cycle of development in agricultural 
crops and the long cycle in forest crops explain this 
difference. The forester can improve upon nature 
mainly by making it produce a larger quantity of ma- 
terial of useful form and of useful species per acre. 

But the greatest and radical difference between 
the two industries, one of the highest national 
economic importance, is the difference in the use 
of the soil. 

Agriculture is engaged in producing starch and 
sugar, proteids and albuminoids, in short, the com- 
pounds which are directly food materials ; and this 
production relies largely on the fertility, the min- 
erals of the soil, especially the rarer phosphorus, 
sulphur, potash, nitrogen. With the harvest all 
these are removed from the soil, and must be 
replaced by manures or through rotation of crops, 
or else the soil is sooner or later exhausted and 
becomes infertile. . 

Forestry is engaged mainly in the production of 
cellulose and its derivatives, carbohydrates, 1 which 
contain a minimum of these rarer elements. 

J The composition of wood is approximately 50 per cent C, 6 per 
cent H, 42 per cent O, 1 per cent N, 1 per cent mineral ash. 



120 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

The air furnishes one-half the constituents, 
namely, the carbon, which the chlorophyll cells 
of the leaves assimilate under the influence of 
the sunlight, and almost the entire other half is 
furnished by the water of the soil. Not that tree 
life and wood production can entirely dispense 
with the presence of these minerals, but it requires 
them in smallest amounts, and the final product, 
which the forester harvests, is practically devoid 
of them. Moreover, those parts of the tree which 
in its life processes accumulate the largest amounts 
of these elements, namely, the foliage and small 
branchlets, do not usually form part of this har- 
vest, but are returned to the soil, so that, in fact, 
not only does the soil not lose any of its fertility, 
but, on the contrary, it is enriched at its surface 
by the decay of the litter, not only through the 
vegetable humus and the nitrogen-condensing bac- 
teria formed in the same'(see Appendix), but through 
mineral constituents in soluble form, which the tree 
has brought up from greater depths. Hence the 
well-known fertility of virgin woodland soil ; while 
agriculture exhausts soils, forestry enriches them. 1 
From the soil the forest crop derives mainly the 

1 A field of potatoes, for instance, uses of phosphoric acid three 
times as much as a beech forest, five times as much as a spruce 
forest, and nine times as much as a pine forest, and of potash nine, 
thirteen, and seventeen times as much as the three tree species 
respectively, while of nitrogen wood requires io to 13 pounds per 
acre as against 60 to 90 pounds in potatoes, the conifers generally 
requiring less than the deciduous-leaved trees. 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 121 

water which is required for the biological processes, 
including the transpiration of the leaves, and for 
the composition of the wood, adding the hygro- 
scopic water which is finally lost when the wood 
seasons. Chemically water forms 48 per cent of 
the wood substance, while 40 to 60 per cent more 
is hygroscopically bound to it in the living tree, 
and 8 to 12 per cent remains so in the wood after 
seasoning ; the whole forest area, therefore, pro- 
duces only 40 per cent of dry substance to 60 per 
cent of water, so that the 8000 pounds annual 
product on a fully stocked acre divides itself up 
into 3000 pounds dry substance, 1250 pounds 
chemically bound, and 3750 hygroscopic, water. 
These are small quantities of water, but the tran- 
spiration current requires many times more. Fig- 
ures on this point are difficult to establish, as the 
variations, by species not only, but from day to day, 
in different seasons, are extremely great. An acre 
of beech may some days transpire not more than 
5000 pounds, other days four times that amount, 
while agricultural crops seem to need from 50 to 
100 per cent more. The interesting and impor- 
tant point is that coniferous trees, especially pines, 
require from one-sixth to one-tenth of what decidu- 
ous-leaved trees transpire, which makes them espe- 
cially valuable for dry soils and climates. The 
silviculturist draws from these facts, regarding the 
frugality of forest crops, the conclusion that he 
need not like the farmer manure nor change his 



122 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

crop, provided the litter is left, and, moreover, that 
he can grow his crop on soils which are not fit 
for agriculture. 

This fact, which also refers to soils and situa- 
tions that are topographically unfit for ploughing, 
is one of greatest importance to the political econo- 
mist. For with the increased need of food supplies, 
the necessity of using the soils to their utmost 
arises, and the possibility of relegating the non- 
agricultural soils to forestry use is a welcome aid 
in the solution of this problem. This relegation 
of soils to their best use is now actively and con- 
sciously going on in the densely populated Ger- 
man states, the economic policy being to exchange 
worn-out, poor agricultural soil for forest use, and 
to turn agricultural soil under forest to farm use. 1 

Hence, also, the mountain slopes, the very places 
where, for the sake of favorable water conditions, 
a forest cover is needed, are par excellence forest 
lands; for a slope of 15 makes them unfit for 
plough land, and one of 20 to 30 excludes them 
from use as pastures, while forest growth will still 
maintain itself satisfactorily on slopes of 40 or 
more. 

We come here to the recognition of a natural 
subdivision of our soils into absolute forest soils, 
those which are only fit for forest crops, and rela- 
tive forest soils, which may come into competition 

1 Prussia has for some years appropriated large sums ($250,000 
annually) for the purchase and reforestation of poor, worn-out lands. 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 123 

with pasture and farm use, and which require care- 
ful consideration as to which use is financially, or 
for other reasons, preferable. 

If we compare the amount of production per 
acre in the two industries, it must not be forgotten 
that in such countries as Europe the forest occupies 
already mostly these poorer sites and situations, 
the absolute forest soils, and hence the comparison 
must be unfavorable, apparently, as far as money 
returns are concerned. 

In amount of vegetable material produced, for- 
est crops, to be sure, are in no way inferior ; nay, 
if we do not confine ourselves to the wood, but 
add the leaf litter produced per year, offsetting 
the straw of agricultural crops, the forest pro- 
duces larger quantities in weight than the farm. 
Taking average crops of the common farm prod- 
uce, there are produced dry weights of 3400 to 
4600 pounds vegetable substance per acre, of 
which, mostly, not more than one-third is repre- 
sented in the grain ; while the forest acre produces 
8000 to 10,000 pounds, of which one-half or more 
is wood, namely, 4500 to 6500 pounds, with 450 
pounds for roots, and 3000 pounds for leaves, the 
dry substance of wood grown per acre per year 
varying between 1500 and 3600 pounds, accord- 
ing to the site. 1 The interesting fact is that all 
species produce on the same site the same weights, 

1 A one-hundred-year-old stand then contains at best 180 tons 
of dry wood, equivalent to about 90 tons of carbon. 



124 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

but, to be sure, the cubic contents vary greatly on 
account of the difference in specific weight, due 
to the manner in which the wood is deposited. 
This production in cubic feet is dependent on 
the condition of the forest crop, varying from less 
than 30 to 100 cubic feet, including the brush- 
wood. Taking only the more useful wood down 
to 3-inch diameter, which we call timber-wood, the 
results of large forest administrations average 
between 35 and 75 cubic feet, or about 55 cubic 
feet in the average, deciduous-leaved forest pro- 
ducing the smaller, coniferous forest the higher, 
figures. Differentiating qualities still further, we 
may state that to these figures corresponds a lumber 
product of 200 to 500 feet B.M. 

In this connection it is significant to note that in 
Switzerland the product in the government forests 
was 71 cubic feet (maximum 96, minimum 29), in 
the cantonal and communal forests 50, and in pri- 
vate forests 47 cubic feet, i.e., 40 per cent, less 
than in the government forests, an indication of 
superior management in the latter. In France the 
same difference appears, the government forests in 
1876 producing at the rate of 49, the communal of 
40, cubic feet. How the forest product responds 
to superior management appears in all German 
forest administrations. In Prussia, for instance, 
the cut, supposedly gauged to the annual growth, 
rose from 28 cubic feet in 1830 to 41 cubic feet in 
1868, and to 51.5 cubic feet in 1900; in Saxony 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 125 

the yield doubled in 50 years to 70 cubic feet for 
the average acre. 

The third factor of production, capital, must, as 
usually, be divided into the current or working fund 
which expresses the capital required to carry on the 
current business, and the fixed investment, which ex- 
presses the capital tied up permanently as a basis 
for continuous production. 

Since the labor expense is relatively small, since 
none or only simple machinery is necessary, and 
simple tools and no buildings are required to house 
the crop, and even the procurement of seed and 
plants may be often dispensed with, the current 
working fund in the forestry business may be 
rather small. While, according to statistics gathered 
by the United States Department of Agriculture 
in 1893, the current expenditure for wheat and 
corn crops was $8.88 and $8.68 respectively, 
not counting rent for land and superintendence; 
in German forest administrations the cost of man- 
agement to be paid from a working fund averages 
about $2 per acre, being, for the single items, from 
22 to 65 cents per acre for protection and adminis- 
tration, 30 cents to $1 for harvest, 15 to 22 cents 
for planting and cultural measures generally, 6 to 
33 cents for road building, most of which might 
correctly be charged to investment. 

In the logging business, which deals only br 
mainly with exploitable timber, lacking or not tak- 
ing into consideration the younger age classes, the 



126 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

case is entirely different, and the expenditures for 
harvest alone may range from $25 to $7$ per acre 
and more. 

But the difference, that renders the established 
regulated forestry business unique, is the amount 
and the character of the permanent or fixed capital. 

Both the farming and the forestry industry have 
in common, besides buildings and tools, the soil as 
the basis of production. Since forestry is gradu- 
ally relegated to the poor soils, this part of the in- 
vestment is comparatively much smaller than in 
agriculture, unless agricultural soils are used in for- 
est growing. Thus in Prussia, where, as we have 
seen, lately purchases of absolute forest soils have 
been made by the government, the average price 
paid in 3 years for about 7500 acres was less than 
$22, including occasionally inferior timber and build- 
ings, the range being from $3 to $33.30, while the 
better agricultural soils bring in the province of 
Brandenburg $100 to $160 per acre. In other 
districts, where forest products are higher in price, 
the value of forest soils ranges somewhat higher, 
namely, from $15 to $60 and occasionally $80. 
But in forestry the fixed capital is not confined to 
the soil; the much larger value is represented in 
the growing stock of wood, which must be allowed 
to accumulate before it is ready for the axe. This 
is the most characteristic feature in the wood-crop- 
ping business carried on for continuity : that only 
the accumulated accretions of many years can be 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 127 

harvested, and that, until harvest time has arriyed, 
they are tied up and are in the nature of fixed capi- 
tal, accumulating with compound interest charges. 

To understand the nature of this capital and get 
an idea of the amount involved, we will have to 
look at it from various points of view. 

If we were to start on a blank area and were to 
plant our crop, we would have only the soil (5) as 
fixed capital ; but since we could not harvest from 
year to year, and thus withdraw the interest, the ex- 
penditure for planting (E) would also have to be 
considered fixed ; moreover, the interest on both soil 
and other expenditures, being by necessity accumu- 
lating, becomes fixed, until at harvest time both capi- 
tal and accumulated interest, except the soil capital, 
become liquidated and then again the process of 
fixation is gone through. The fixed capital would 
then be (S + E) i.op r - (S + E), or (S + E) 
(i.op r — 1); r being the time during which the 
capital is tied up, and p the interest-rate at which 
the capital is supposed to produce. 

If we started, as the forest exploiter does, with 
a ready-made crop of virgin timber, we might take 
the position which he usually does, namely, remove 
at once the valuable part of the crop, and turn it 
into cash, when as a rule both the current capi- 
tal involved in harvesting and transporting the 
crop, and the investment in land or stock, are liqui- 
dated at once, or in short time, the stumpage value 
paid under such crude conditions being usually kept 



128 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

disproportionate to its actual value ; and the basis 
of future production may be said to be a zero cap- 
ital, neither the soil nor the prospective under- 
growth being considered of any value, and in fact 
no conscious forest management for new crop 
being intended, the reproduction being left to 
accident and nature alone and allowing perhaps 
a return for further harvest at some later time. 
The aspect changes when real forest manage- 
ment, not for intermittent returns, but for annual 
business, is contemplated, when the forest is to be 
so regulated that every year forever a harvest is 
to be secured in proportion to the capacity of soil 
and species of producing it continuously, i.e. when 
the increment only is to be harvested, which every 
year brings. We can readily conceive what the 
ideal condition of such a forest must be. If we had 
determined that our crop is best harvested when 
one hundred years of age, then, in order to harvest 
always one-hundred-year-old timber, we must have 
a series of one hundred stands, each one differing 
by one year in age down to yearling growth, so 
that each year one stand becomes ripe. It appears 
then clear that the contents of the ninety-nine 
stands from one to ninety-nine years old, expressed 
in volume or value, are the wood capital; and the 
hundredth stand is the interest or harvest or fell- 
ing budget (the last stand representing as well the 
increments of one hundred years, as the one hun- 
dred increments of one year on the whole area) 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 129 

which may be cut ; and if reproduced as cut, the 
continuity of similar harvests is assured. 

If we call the annual increment of any one stand 
i, and instead of the one hundred years substi- 
tute the general term of years r (rotation), the 
capital stock is the sum of the arithmetic series 
i + 2 V + 3 i . . . + ri which, according to well- 

known mathematical laws, is - x (r 1 + 1) ; or, since 

2 

i is relatively quite small, it may be neglected, and 

if we substitute for ri = /, i.e. the annual increment 

of all the stands, the form becomes -/, or in other 

2 

words the capital stock of wood which must be 
maintained is the increment occurring on the whole 
forest through half the rotation. It stands to rea- 
son that, with every species and every soil, as well 
as with every rotation and system of management, 
the amount of / changes, and hence the capital 
stock required. 

It is evident that, for instance, in coppice forest, 
sprout lands, which are usually managed in rota- 
tions of not over twenty to forty years, the wood 
capital is much smaller than in timber forest, which 
requires from sixty to one hundred and twenty 
years and more to become mature. 

Merely to give an idea of the relative amounts 
which different conditions may require, we will 
assume that 70 cubic feet of wood per acre repre- 
sents the annual increment, then a coppice of 100 



130 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

acres in twenty-year rotation would require as 
wood capital ioo x 70 x 10 = 70,000 cubic feet; 
while the same 100 acres managed as timber for- 
est in one-hundred-and-twenty-year rotation would 
require a wood capital of ioox 70x60 = 420,000 
cubic feet, or six times as much as the coppice in 
volume, and, to be sure, many more times in value, 
since in the timber forest higher-priced material is 
involved. 

In actual practice in a large average (Bavarian 
and French forest departments), the disproportion 
is much greater, namely, the wood capital in the 
timber forest is eight to twenty-five times as large 
as in the coppice. 

To give a few absolute figures which we can 
take from the elaborate yield tables of the Ger- 
mans, a Scotch pine timber forest of 100 acres in 
one-hundred-year rotation would require, accord- 
ing to the character of the site, that 400,000 to 
900,000 cubic feet of wood be maintained as wood 
capital ; a spruce forest requires a wood capital of 
560,000 to 1,540,000; and a beech forest under 
similar conditions managed for continuity would 
make it necessary to leave 500,000 to 700,000 cubic 
feet in round numbers, the lower figures for the 
poorer, the higher figures for the best soils. 

Translated into money values, these quantities 
would vary from $100 to $600 per acre, and in the 
coppice, to be sure, not over $10 per acre. 

We see, then, that in a properly regulated for- 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 131 

est management for timber production, while the 
soil represents the smallest portion of the fixed 
capital, soil and wood capital combined exceeds 
the fixed capital needed in an intensive farm man- 
agement, and on the whole two to ten times the 
capital required in agriculture is needed to carry 
on forest management for timber production. 

Two most important deductions from the stand- 
point of political economy follow from this dis- 
cussion. 

First, that the time element, together with the 
large capital required in timber-wood production, 
renders the forestry business undesirable to private 
enterprise of circumscribed means ; that long-lived 
persons, like the state and corporations, and large 
capitalists, can alone engage in it as a business by 
itself with hope of financial satisfaction. 

This does not exclude the farmer's wood-lot as 
an adjunct to the farm, but he will finally find it 
more advantageous, if he figures correctly, to man- 
age it as coppice, not as a timber forest. 

Secondly, the fact that capital and interest, wood 
stock and harvest, are mixed together, the differ- 
entiation being made, not by the character of the 
material, but by voluntary economic considera- 
tions and self-imposed saving, and that, while in 
the lower age classes the capital is tied up without 
any possibilities of realizing on it, it is possible to 
liquidate portions of it in the older age classes at 
any time, making it readily available, to be turned 



132 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

into other channels — this ease of reducing the 
fixed capital without appreciable loss is one of the 
peculiarities of the forestry business, which some- 
times may be of advantage, like a savings bank 
account, but also brings with it the danger of un- 
economic anticipation of the harvest, of disturbing 
the systematic progress of a management for con- 
tinuity, of returning to mere exploitation when there 
is an urgent need of money. 

Hence, not only capital, but economic capacity 
and character and moral strength are required to 
maintain a systematic forest management and with- 
stand the temptation to realize. Again the state, 
communities, and corporations, who have an interest 
in continuity, are most safely intrusted with a busi- 
ness that can be so easily unbalanced. 

It is also evident that a profitable, well-regulated 
forest management for annual returns as a business 
by itself is only possible on a large acreage. This 
will appear readily from the consideration that Ger- 
man government forests net from $i to $4.50 per 
acre per year (as against $24 for farm lands) ; 
hence, to furnish $1000 margin not less than 250 
to 1000 acres are required, and to pay a competent 
manager's salary alone, without interest and profit 
on the business, requires at least 2500 acres, while, 
to be sure, he would not be fully occupied with less 
than 10,000 to 20,000 acres. And we must not for- 
get that the results in these German forests are 
obtained now after a century of systematic manage- 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 133 

ment, and then are only possible by having very 
large areas under one management, when the good 
acres offset the loss on the poor acres. Under 
such conditions 35 to 60 per cent of the gross yield 
goes for labor and administration, one-third to one- 
quarter for the former, one-fifth to one-seventh for 
the latter, leaving 40 to 65 per cent of the gross yield 
as profit, equivalent to a rate of 3 to 5 per cent on the 
wood capital from soil otherwise mostly valueless. 

There are other consequences which follow 
from the character of the wood capital : the diffi- 
culty of determining what is capital, what interest 
makes the renting of woods for systematic forest 
management impracticable ; and such management 
is also unsuitable for stock companies, which are 
formed to make money fast and lack conservative 
spirit, however favorable such companies may be 
in conducting mere forest exploitation. On the 
other hand, it is conceivable that trusts could 
most advantageously carry on the forestry busi- 
ness, owing to the fact that large fixed capital is 
needed, and is most safely invested in forest 
growth, promising secure and steadily growing 
income, and that the more surely the larger the 
property under one management. 

There are, to be sure, dangers to the wood capi- 
tal from insects, storms, and fires; 1 but they can 

1 In Prussian forest districts in fifteen years 405 fires were reported, 
but only 191 acres in 1,000,000 were damaged out of the 7,000,000 
acres involved. 



134 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

be reduced to a minimum of permanent injury, 
and the more easily the larger the property under 
one management. 

All things in the production of which nature 
plays the important part have the tendency to rise 
in price, while those relying principally on labor 
and capital sink. That the price of wood is bound 
to rise is not only a matter of simple philosophy as 
long as forest area decreases and demand for wood 
increases, but also of history wherever natural 
resources have been reduced to the necessity of 
management. (See further on regarding rise in 
prices.) The financial results of German forest 
administrations are certainly most assuring as to 
the profitableness of a systematic forest manage- 
ment pursued during the last one hundred years, 
through all the changes of economic conditions 
which have characterized that century. 

Evidences of the increasing profitableness of 
these administrations are given in the statistics 
contained in the Appendix. The increased yields 
and incomes there recorded do not, however, tell 
the entire story, for they do not show the additional 
improvement in the condition and earning power 
of the properties. 

Taking, for instance, the Saxon forest property 
of only 430,000 acres, we find that, although the 
cut of wood had increased from 23,500 cubic feet 
in 1850 to 37,400 cubic feet in 1893, an increase 
of 60 per cent, the timber wood per cent (wood of 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 135 

superior size not cordwood) had increased from 14 
cubic feet to 54 cubic feet per acre or nearly 300 
per cent, and at the same time the wood capital had 
increased nearly 25 per cent. While the net in- 
come during the earlier period, when wood was 
worth 5.6 cents per cubic foot, amounted to $1.12 
per acre, in 1893 the price had risen to 9.9 cents, 
or 76 per cent, but the net income had risen 
nearly 300 per cent, namely, to $4.37 for every 
acre of the property, while the expenditures had 
been more than doubled. 

When it is considered that Saxony has taken in 
about $200,000,000 during the last fifty years from 
a small area of rough mountain land, a tract half 
the size of many a county in the United States, 
and that without diminishing, but rather increasing, 
its earning power, the advantage of a careful treat- 
ment of forest areas, at least to the state, the com- 
munity, must be apparent. 

Considering the net income as the interest of 
the value of the forest lands at a 3 per cent interest 
rate, it appears that, meanwhile, the capital value 
of these lands has increased from $100 to $150, 
whereas their deforestation would quickly convert 
them into poor alpine pastures, which would bank- 
rupt their owners at $10 per acre. 

To the uninitiated an interest rate of 5 per cent, 
which the appreciation of the investment and the 
continued revenue of 3 per cent represents, would 
appear unattractive; but when the conditions under 



136 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

which this rate is secured are considered, it would 
be difficult to find any other business that under 
similar non-speculative conditions and management 
could make such a showing. 

It is the consensus of a large number of promi- 
nent financiers in the United States, 1 that at the 
present time an absolutely safe, satisfactory long 
time investment in this country cannot net more 
than 3 to 3-J- per cent, with a tendency to decreasing 
rates. 

A number of reasons can be adduced for the 
claim that the forestry business is one of those 
which is entitled to a low interest rate. It is well 
known that the form of the capital varies the inter- 
est rate, besides those more general modifiers of 
the value of capital, such as the general safety, 
prosperity, and credit of a country, and the supply 
and demand for money. Among the features which 
render capital invested in forestry business of such 
a character as to satisfy a low interest rate, are the 
following : — 

Like all landed property, the safety of the invest- 
ment is great ; moreover, since forest property un- 
der forestry management does not, as we have seen, 
lend itself to renting, but is usually managed on 
own account, no allowance needs be made in the 
interest-rate it must bring for the premium for 
risk which loaned capital requires. As long as the 

1 " Letters of Prominent Financiers on Interest Rates," Equi- 
table Life Assurance Society, 1899. 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 137 

fire danger is as great as in this country, the safety 
of forest property under certain conditions (conifer- 
ous forest, dry regions) is, to be sure, greatly im- 
paired. That this danger does not need to exist is 
amply shown by European experiences, and as soon 
as forest properties are really managed and not only 
exploited, they will have the same safety. 

In Prussia, with 7,000,000 acres, including large 
pineries on sandy plains, in 25 years (1868- 1895) 
only 1400 acres, or 0.02 per cent, or 1 acre in 4500, 
were burned over, and some years not more than 
1 in 8000, a small percentage for so large and 
specially endangered properties. In the moun- 
tainous forests of Bavaria in 5 years (1 877-1 881) 
only 1 acre in 13,167 was lost by fire, less than 
0.007 per cent of the 2,000,000 acres, the loss rep- 
resenting 2 per cent of the gross yield. This state 
lost heavily by insects and storms, but such loss is 
usually of little consequence on large areas, only 
disturbing the regular management, and readily 
compensated. In 1868 to 1878 windfalls and dam- 
age by beetles made it necessary to anticipate the 
cutting of 400,000,000 cubic feet, and although 
thereby the regular cut was increased by 2.1 per 
cent, this increase remained without any influence 
on normal prices. 

The permanency and continuity of the invest- 
ment, the amenity and dignity of large landed 
property, recommend it to large capitalists; and 
since the nature of the business necessitates the 



138 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

employment of large fixed capital, the usual low 
rate prevails which accompanies large capital in- 
vestments, safely placed and avoiding the losses 
incident to re-investment. 

The promptness and absolute assurance with 
which the revenues may be expected, and also 
the advantage of being able to anticipate revenue 
when needed, have the same tendency. Finally, 
the general tendency to lower interest rates, and 
at the same time to higher prices for wood, 
promise an advantage in the future (especially 
in a country where, on account of extensive for- 
est exploitation, prices are still comparatively 
low) which will make investments in forest prop- 
erty for continuous management show superior 
advantage to most other forms of capital of large 
size. 

This rise of prices, of which we gave an example 
for the densely populated, industrial little state of 
Saxony, comes out still more strikingly in the 
larger, and more extensively managed Prussian for- 
ests. Here the average price per cubic foot nearly 
doubled in the 35 years from 1830 to 1865, and 
from 1850 to 1895 it rose nearly 50 per cent, namely 
from 3 cents to 4 J cents per cubic foot, all together 
an increase of ij per cent annually for a period of 
65 years. 

In every case of the state forest administrations 
of Germany, we observe steady increase in material 
production, value production, expenditures, appre- 



FACTORS OF FOREST PRODUCTION. 139 

ciation of investment, and net yield, as the table in 
the Appendix exhibits. 

One important policy which has brought about 
this result, and which defines in general the finan- 
cial requirement of forestry, has been that these 
state administrations were willing and able to forego 
present revenue for the sake of continued future 
revenues, to give up immediate momentary profits 
for the sake of making larger profits distributed in 
time. 

Forest management means that some part of 
the forest, the wood capital, must be left, although 
it could be turned into cash, or that money be spent 
in establishing such a wood capital where it is defi- 
cient, waiting for the time of returns. No business 
realizes more than the forestry business that time 
is money, and time is what the small capitalist does 
not have. It is, therefore, not a business for the 
small capitalist, who must work for large margins. 



CHAPTER VI. 
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FOREST. 

To understand the operations of the forester, it 
is necessary to have some knowledge regarding 
the life history of the object of his endeavor. 

We have seen that the forest is not a mere col- 
lection of trees, but an organic whole, the result of 
evolutionary development, of adaptations and reac- 
tions to the environment, of interrelations between 
the components of the forest and the soil, climate, 
and lower vegetation, as well as between the com- 
ponents themselves. 

While the forester must necessarily be thor- 
oughly conversant with the development of the 
single tree and all the conditions influencing it, he 
cannot stop there, but must also know its behavior 
when placed in relation to associates in the com- 
munity of companions, for it is his business to de- 
velop this community in such a manner, and bring 
all influences and elements of environment into 
such a relation to it, that it will produce a certain 
desired result. Acres of forest, not single trees, 
concern him. 

The virgin forest and the forester's forest will 

140 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FOREST. 141 

necessarily differ, inasmuch as the former is 
merely the result of a natural evolutionary strug- 
gle among the different forms of vegetation, in 
which the " most fit " survivors may not be the 
economically desirable, while the forester substi- 
tutes artificial selection for natural selection, and 
makes sure of the protected survival of the most 
useful. Within limits, at least, he has it in his 
power to influence the seemingly lawless mixture 
of species which the virgin forest offers into a 
form more suitable for his purposes. The limits 
are set by the adaptability of the species to climate 
and soil, and by the skill of the forester in recog- 
nizing and utilizing the laws under which the 
natural forest develops. 

Climatic factors, temperature and moisture con- 
ditions, determine, in the first place, the field of 
natural distribution of the various species. Differ- 
ent species are adapted to live within different 
ranges of temperature and of relative humidity, 
or the combination of both ; hence, different types 
of forest occupy the different regions through 
which we pass from the tropics, with their palms 
and broad-leaved evergreen trees, through the de- 
ciduous-leaved forest of the middle latitudes, com- 
posed of oaks, hickories, chestnut, and tulip tree, 
to the northern latitudes, where birch, maple, 
beech, with pine, and hemlock, and finally, only 
aspen and spruce, can brave the wintry blasts. 
And beyond the last outposts of these, tousled and 



142 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

dwarfed, the esquimaux of tree growth, the treeless 
tundra is reached, where ice and snow abound all 
the year, the home of winter. 

Similar changes in type may be traced by ascend- 
ing some high mountain in tropic or subtropic 
regions. We may begin our journey under the 
palms. As we ascend 2000 or 3000 feet, we pass 
through the varied evergreen, broad-leaved forest, 
into the deciduous-leaved forest, not dissimilar to 
that of our middle latitudes. At an altitude of 
8000 feet we enter the dominion of spruces and 
firs. At 10,000 to 15,000 feet the forest opens, 
the trees stand in groups, are dwarfed and tousled 
like their northern counterparts, hugging each 
other and the ground for protection against the 
winter storms ; finally, the timber line is reached, 
where killing frosts occur every month in the 
year, and no persistent life can exist. 

Again, variation in the relative humidity, in con- 
nection with temperature conditions, brings about 
changes in forest types ; from the humid seashore 
to the drouthy interior of continents, we find differ- 
ent species adapted to the many possible combina- 
tions of temperature, humidity, and winds, which 
together influence that most important physiologi- 
cal function needful in the life of the tree, tran- 
spiration. Dry climates, like cold climates, tend 
to diminish growth, and reduce the number of 
species composing the forest. 

Within the geographical range of the species 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FOREST. 143 

thus limited, soil conditions vary, and again dif- 
ferentiate the distribution ; the frugal pines being 
able to subsist on the deep, overdrained sands, the 
shallow-rooted spruces on the thin soils of alpine 
situations, the elms, swamp maples, tupelo, bald 
cypress, being indifferent to excess of moisture at 
their feet, the hickories, walnuts, and tulip trees 
seeking the rich, loamy soils, and others again 
being ubiquitous, adapted more or less readily to 
any kind of soil. 

While, then, certain territory is assigned to the 
different tree species, which through eras of evolu- 
tion have adapted themselves to the climatic and soil 
conditions, — and this is a very important eco- 
nomic fact, since usefulness of species varies, — yet 
the absence of a species from a given locality does 
not necessarily predicate its inability to exist and 
thrive in such a locality, since there are also me- 
chanical barriers, like wide oceans and high moun- 
tain ranges, or there may be absence of suitable 
means of transportation for the seed, prevent- 
ing its spread, and these difficulties man can 
overcome. 

It is, therefore, not impossible to exchange and 
distribute artificially the useful species, as has 
been done in agriculture and horticulture. But 
in the case of plant material for forest purposes 
it is impracticable to give special protection to the 
introduced species through the long term of its 
growth to usefulness, as may be done in the case 



144 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

of animals or even of fruit-trees. Acclimatization, 
so called, in forestry is, therefore, practically con- 
fined to overcoming merely the mechanical barri- 
ers of distribution, i.e. to transport the species, 
where its means of transportation fail, and to 
give it a chance of showing its adaptation or lack 
of it. 

As a rule, the forester relies on the species 
which he finds in the locality in which he is to 
operate, and introduces from outside only species 
which he has strong reasons to believe are adapted 
to his locality, and at the same time promise de- 
cided advantage over the native ones either in 
quality or quantity of product or in other silvi- 
cultural qualities. 

Nor has much attempt been made to improve 
on the quality of the wood as nature produces it. 
While in agricultural products nature has been 
improved upon in nearly every case, in forest 
products very little attention has been given to 
this subject. 

The forester, more than the agriculturist, follows 
and imitates the processes of nature ; all that he 
attempts is to direct them to produce, in a degree, 
better form and larger quantity of the better kinds 
which he finds on hand. 

While the presence of a species in the composi- 
tion of the natural forest is, in the first place, due 
to climatic and soil conditions, its numerical dis- 
tribution and the manner of its occurrence in the 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FOREST. 145 

mixed forest depend primarily on two qualities in 
combination, namely, its relative rapidity and per- 
sistence of height growth, and its relative require- 
ments for light, while the manner of seed production, 
seed transportation, and character of seed are addi- 
tional factors. 

In those natural forests which are composed 
mainly or entirely of one species, a comparatively 
rare occurrence, the presumption is that climatic 
or soil conditions are such that other species do 
not find them congenial, at least, not when they 
must contend for root and air space. 

One, by a prolific production of seed, has an 
advantage over another which produces seed only 
every three or four years. The heavy nut of the 
walnut, or the acorn or beechnut, needs squir- 
rels, mice, birds, and water to extend its territory, 
while the light-winged seeds of birch and poplar, 
carried by the winds, make these trees almost 
ubiquitous. The seed of the willow loses its power 
of germination within a few hours or days ; hence 
it is confined mainly to the borders of streams, 
where favorable opportunities for sprouting exist. 
The acacia and others of the leguminous tribe, 
like the black locust, preserve their seed alive 
for many years ; nay, the seed of the former will 
often lie buried in the ground for years, until a 
fire that destroys all other vegetation breaks their 
hard seed coat and calls to life the dormant germ : 
the cones of some pines remain closed, and release 

L 



146 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

the seed only when fire, which has probably de- 
stroyed all competitors, opens them. The pecu- 
liarities of the seed, then, account for much in the 
distribution of plants. 

Next comes the peculiarity of growth. The 
long-leaf pine, which, for the first four years, does 
not grow more than two or three inches above the 
ground, is at a disadvantage in that first period, 
during which it has occupied itself with forming 
a stout root system ; but thereafter, by virtue of 
this root system, it may endure what a faster- 
growing neighbor could not. The quickly growing 
aspen covers large areas, but its reign is of short 
duration, for, as with most of the rapid growers, 
its life is short. The slower-growing spruce, which 
could support itself under the light shade of the 
aspen, remains on the field, the victor by sheer 
persistency. 

Capacity to resist unfavorable weather condi- 
tions — frost and drought — will give the advan- 
tage to one species over the other, while liability 
to attacks by animals, especially insects, may also 
prove disadvantageous in comparison with the 
others. There is little doubt in the mind of the 
writer that the big trees, the Sequoias, owe their 
long life to their immunity from insects and fungi 
and to their resistance to fire, to which their com- 
petitors succumb. Finally, however, the two qual- 
ities first mentioned, relative height growth and 
relative light requirement, are determinative. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FOREST. 147 

While light is usually accompanied by heat and 
it is difficult to discern how much of the effect of 
it on plant growth is to be ascribed to the heat 
which causes transpiration, and how much to the 
light as such, yet it is now well known that light 
itself exercises various influences upon vegeta- 
tion, some of which are still imperfectly or not at 
all understood. It is light which is indispensable 
in the formation of chlorophyll — the material 
which imparts the green color to plants ; it is 
light, a certain degree of light, upon which the 
assimilation of carbonic acid in the chlorophyll 
and the formation of starch are dependent; it is 
light, together with other factors, which influences 
transpiration by the foliage, which determines the 
development of the crown and of the whole tree 
in direction and quantity of growth. 

It has been observed that various plants show 
need of a greater or smaller amount of light for 
their development. Some plants always seek the 
shady places in the woods ; others enjoy the full 
sunshine of the meadow. The dense spruce forest 
permits only a moss-cover on the soil, while the 
open-foliaged oak forest permits a host of shrubs 
and herbs to subsist. Just so, some trees are found 
thriving under the shade of others, while these are 
intolerant of the shade of their neighbors, or can 
endure it only a short time. So all important and 
so well known is the influence of light on the de- 
velopment of a forest crop that on the difference of 



148 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

light requirements of the various species are based 
the most important forestal operations. According 
to relative tolerance of shade, the species can be 
graded from the most tolerant to the least tolerant, 
into shade-enduring or light-needing. Those spe- 
cies which, like the beech or sugar maple, the 
hemlock or the fir or spruce, form dense crowns 
evidently need less light than those with lighter 
foliage, for the interior leaves of these crowns can 
grow and function in the dense shade. On the 
other hand, the light-foliaged, open-crowned larch 
or pine, aspen or poplar, ash or birch, show their 
extreme sensitiveness to the absence of light by 
the very openness of their crowns, by losing early 
the lower branches unless they are fully lighted, 
and in the forest by the inability of their seedlings 
and young progeny to endure the shade of neigh- 
bors or even of their own parent trees. 

To offset this drawback in their constitution, they 
have usually some advantage in the character of 
the seed, and are mostly endowed with a rapid 
height growth in their youth, so that, at least when 
the competition for light starts with even chances, 
they may secure their share by growing away from 
their would-be suppressors. They can keep them- 
selves in a mixed forest only by keeping ahead and 
occupying the upper crown level. The tolerant 
species, on the other hand, able to thrive in the 
shade of light-foliaged species, usually increase 
more slowly in height ; but their capacity of 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FOREST. 149 

shade endurance assures to them a place in the 
forest. 

Many of them are characterized by a height 
growth which, though slow, is persistent ; while the 
light-needing species, by falling behind in their 
rate of height growth, often lose in the end what 
they attained in their youth. As a result the 
shade endurers finally become dominant, and the 
light needers occur in the mixed forest only 
sporadically, the remnants or single survivors of 
groups, all the outside members of which have 
perished; and only when a wind-storm or insect 
pest creates an opening of sufficient size is a chance 
for their reproduction given. 

Just as in the mixed forest the species are dis- 
tributed according to their shade endurance, so in 
the pure forest of one species, or of species of 
equal tolerance, will the different-sized or different- 
aged trees develop side by side according to avail- 
able light, each crowding the other, the laggards 
being finally killed by the withdrawal of light. 

In a well-established young growth of white 
pine, the seedlings, some 50,000 to 100,000 on an 
acre, with their symmetrical crowns sooner or later 
form a dense crown canopy, excluding all light from 
the soil. After a few years the leaves of the lower 
branches, no longer able to function under the shade 
of the superior part of the crown and of their 
neighbors, fail to develop and the branchlets die 
and break off ; this natural cleaning, which secures 



150 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

the desirable clear boles, takes place during the 
period of rapid height growth, which occurs from 
the tenth to the thirtieth year. At the age of 
thirty years the trees are slender poles having a 
diameter of 3 to 5 inches, and a height of from 20 
to 25 feet, with a few taller ones, the boles bearing 
a dense conical crown and beset for the greater 
part of their length with small limbs, the lower 
ones dead or dying. Not a few trees are seen to 
fall short of reaching the general upper crown 
level ; the crowns of these laggards are shorter, 
more open, with fewer leaves on each twig. Others 
again will be found dead or scarcely vegetating, 
with crowns very poorly developed. In other 
words, we can recognize different vigor in devel- 
opment according to constitution and accidental 
opportunity, and can make a differentiation into 
development classes : the predominant, with their 
crowns 5 to 10 feet above the general level, which 
must finally make up the mature stand ; the sub- 
dominant, still alive and, should accident remove 
some of the superior class, ready to occupy their 
air space ; and the dominated or inferior ones, hope- 
lessly out of the race. 

Of the tens of thousands which started only 
2000 or 3000 are surviving, and as each tree tries 
to expand its crown, and secure for itself as much 
air space as well as root space' as it can, the result 
is a continued diminution of the number of trees 
occupying the acre. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FOREST. 151 

This decimation is in exact mathematical rela- 
tion, except for accidents, with the development of 
the dominant, especially in height growth. At the 
age of eighty, of the several thousand trees which 
started in the race, only a portion — not more than 
400 to 500 — are left. Then the diminution pro- 
ceeds at a slower rate, until finally only 200 to 300 
occupy the ground, or as many as can conveniently 
fill the air space in the upper story, the number 
varying according to soil and climatic conditions 
and species. 

The time has arrived when the height growth is 
practically finished. The branches cannot lengthen 
any more to occupy the air space. After this a nu- 
merical change can take place only as a result of 
casualties, caused by fungi, insects, fires, or wind- 
storms ; these of course may also from the start in- 
terfere in the regular progress of adjustment which 
takes place under the effect of physiological laws. 

In reality the conditions of soil, climate, and 
species in combination are so various that this pro- 
cess of evolution does not appear so simple, yet the 
seemingly lawless, yet actually law-directed, appear- 
ance of a forest growth explains itself by these 
few observations of the results of action and reac- 
tion of its surroundings and of the single compo- 
nents. 

The factor of light is not only the most impor- 
tant one in bringing about the evolution of the 
natural forest, but practically almost the only one 



152 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

under control of man. With the knowledge of the 
light requirements and with the judicious use of 
the axe, the forester is enabled to stimulate or 
suppress one species or another, and to direct in 
quantitative and qualitative development the prog- 
ress of his crop, and finally to secure the regen- 
eration of entire forest growths with species that 
to him are most useful. 

Not only is the composition largely a result of 
changes in light conditions, but the amount of pro- 
duction ceteris paribus is a function of the light, for 
the amount of foliage which the single tree can 
exhibit to the influence of light predicates the 
amount of wood it produces during the season, 
provided that food supplies are accessible. 

The whole art of forestry, in its technical as 
well as in its financial results, is based upon the 
knowledge and application of the laws of accre- 
tion. Just as the manner in which composition 
and numbers arrange themselves is a result of 
recognizable laws of development, so the growth 
of the individual tree as well as the growth of the 
whole stand of trees in quantity and form is sub- 
ject to laws which can be formulated. The math- 
ematics of forest growth, developed by forest men- 
suration, 1 reveal not only how, but how much, trees 

1 The measurements to establish the progress of development 
are based upon the fact that trees grow annually in length at their 
tips by addition of shoots, and in circumference by the superposi- 
tion of a layer of wood over those of former years, which in a 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FOREST. 153 

and stands of trees grow, how much useful mate- 
rial they are capable of producing, and under what 
conditions the largest amount of the most useful 
material may be produced most quickly upon a 
given area, which is the principal aim of the 
forester. 

As we recognize in the animal or in man cer- 
tain periods of development which are each char- 
acterized by progress in certain directions, so we 
can in the tree individual recognize an infantile 
stage, the seedling first unfolding the characteris- 
tics of the plant, and occupied in forming organs 
of nutrition. This process continues more vigor- 
ously during the juvenile period or brush-wood 
stage, when the difference in inherited capacity is 
most pronounced, some species shooting rapidly 
upward — mostly light-needing species — while 
others first consume considerable time in develop- 
ing a root system, a basis upon which the future 
persistent growth can establish itself. During this 
stage the difference in the rate of height growth 
of different species is greatest and we can speak 
of rapid and slow growers. After the juvenile 
period all species grow more or less alike during 
the brief adolescent or pole-wood period, the maxi- 
mum rate of height growth occurring in the tenth 
to fifteenth year with the light-needing and in the 
twentieth to fortieth year with the shade-enduring 

cross-section appear as the well-known annual rings, permitting a 
statement of relation of performance to time. 



154 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

species ; then follows the even rate of the adult virile, 
or young-timber period, during which maturity and 
frequent seed production absorb part of the energy 
until the maximum height is reached, and in the 
senile or old-timber stage height growth stops alto- 
gether. The virile stage is of most uneven length, 
and here the " law of the lever " asserts itself often : 
those which grow most rapidly in their youth, 
as a rule, cease soonest to exert themselves, while 
the slow growers are persistent and finally over- 
tower the rapid ones. 

The diameter growth proceeds slowly until a fully 
formed crown and root system can elaborate the 
material to be deposited along the bole in annual 
layers. As these conditions improve during the 
adolescent period, so does the rate of diameter 
growth increase and the maximum rate does not 
occur until the fortieth to eightieth year, then very 
evenly declining into late life ; but the area of a 
cross-section taken in any part of the bole, usually 
breast high, increases a considerable time after the 
diameter rate has begun to sink, as mathematical 
reasoning requires, the deposit each year being 
made on a larger periphery. 

Of greatest economic interest is the form devel- 
opment of the bole, which depends upon the man- 
ner in which the wood is deposited over the 
previous year's deposits. In well-fed trees, with 
fully developed crowns, standing in the open, so 
much food is elaborated that the lower portions 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FOREST. 155 

receive an excess, hence we find such trees with 
broad base tapering rapidly toward the crown; 
while trees of the forest, grown in denser stand, 
' and having smaller confined crowns, elaborate less 
material, hence the lower portions do not receive 
so much, the result being a more nearly cylindrical 
form, or even taper. 

In the volume development matters become more 
complicated, and we must differentiate it into parts, 
namely, the volume of the bole, and that of the 
branches, and brush wood, not to speak of the root 
growth, or, as is customary with foresters, we may 
consider the volume of the useful timber wood, 
namely, material over three inches in diameter, as 
differentiated from the brush wood, of smaller 
dimension. 

In a tree grown in the open, the crown is apt, for 
a time at least, to develop at the expense of the 
bole, and the deposition of new material takes 
place more largely in the branches. At the same 
time, since under this condition the largest amount 
of foliage is at work, the largest amount of total 
wood is also produced by such single trees. In the 
forest the branch development is impeded by the 
neighbors, hence each single component of the for- 
est not only produces less wood, but the distri- 
bution of the product is different, the valuable bole 
receiving more than the less valuable branches. 
Since open position secures quantity, dense position 
quality, we can conceive of such a position or density 



156 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

of stand that will secure the largest amount of 
deposit, compatible with the most useful form. 

In general, the volume accretion of trees in full 
enjoyment of light experiences a constant increase 
in rate after the adolescent stage, and continues at 
such rate for a long time, often into old age. 

Of course different soil and climatic conditions, 
as well as light conditions, influence the rate of 
growth, and the growth of different species also 
varies in amount. Here again the interesting law 
of the lever may be noted, namely, that on good 
sites the development is, to be sure, more rapid, but 
the culmination in the rate is also reached more 
rapidly, and the decline is more rapid. Similarly 
as regards species : those that start with a rapid 
growth usually reach their culmination sooner than 
the slower ones, and are apt to decline more rap- 
idly in their rate, so that in the end the slow but 
persistent growers may outgrow the rapid ones in 
height, diameter, and volume. 

In the forest, as we have seen, the individual 
trees experience an influence in their development 
from the shade of their neighbors, and as a result, 
a differentiation of trees into size classes, dominant 
and inferior growth takes place, and finally as a 
consequence the dying off of the latter, the dimi- 
nution in numbers, which we have already discussed. 
Both height and diameter, as well as volume growth, 
of these various tree classes, together with the dim- 
inution in numbers, must be studied to determine 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FOREST. 157 

the important question of volume development of 
stands. Hopeless as this would seem at first, it 
has been accomplished with tolerable success by 
German foresters, and a good beginning has been 
made for the species of the United States. 

The general laws which have been deduced 
from the thousands of measurements made by the 
Germans are, within limits, applicable to our native 
species ; they exhibit at least what the possibilities 
are under good management. 

In the first place, these measurements show that, 
so far as weight of production is concerned, the 
same acre produces annually the same weight of dry 
material, with practically whatever species it may 
be grown, namely from 4000 to 8000 pounds per 
acre, according to the quality of the acre (see p. 123). 
In volume there is, to be sure, a considerable dif- 
ference, due to the difference in specific weight of 
the wood of different species, and of the water con- 
tents ; in other words, the trees with heavy wood 
would, ceteris paribus, produce less volume per year 
than the light woods. That the weight of vegetable 
product should be the same was logically to be 
expected, since on the same acre the active factors 
which produce assimilation and the potential energy 
of the soil remain the same, and the result in prod- 
uct must be the same. Nearly one-half of this 
product is represented by foliage and roots, and one- 
fourth by brush wood and bark, leaving only about 
three-eighths available as useful wood material. 



158 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

According to climatic and soil conditions, which, 
in combination, are technically called "site," the 
annual production of available dry wood substance 
above ground, when the site is fully utilized, varies 
from at least 3500 pounds on the best sites to 1200 
pounds on the poorest. This production remains 
the same, regardless of the number of trees partici- 
pating in it, provided that the entire available light 
space be filled with active foliage, or, that, techni- 
cally speaking, there is a full crown cover. 

From this observation it appears that not the 
number of trees, but the density of crown cover, 
i.e. the intensity of utilization of the light, is the 
important factor in weight production, and, ceteris 
paribus, in volume production. In other words, 
there may be two and three times as many trees 
on the same area, and yet no difference in total 
volume. The difference due to numbers will ap- 
pear in difference of the distribution of volume in 
more or less useful form ; hence the proper gauging 
of numbers is one of the most important operations 
of the forester. 

As we have seen before, in a dense young growth 
of nature's sowing, there may be 50,000 or more 
trees per acre, which, by natural thinning after the 
twentieth year, are reduced to 2000 or 2500, and then 
diminishing steadily in number at a slower rate ; at 
the end of the hundredth year only 200 to 250 occupy 
the upper crown level, or only 10 per cent are left, 
90 per cent having succumbed to the shading, or 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FOREST. 159 

having become mere undergrowth. Hence, while 
on the whole the volume accretion has been in- 
creasing, there has been also a constant loss by 
the death of the inferior trees, a loss in volume 
which is equal to at least 30 to 40 per cent of 
the final harvest, and which, in part at least, can 
be saved by timely interference and utilization. 

It is evident that, with the great variety of con- 
ditions possible, the rate of production of useful 
wood, i.e. wood of log and bolt size fit for the arts, 
varies greatly. Yet through painstaking analysis 
and classification of the collected measurements, it 
has been possible to construct for each species and 
site so-called yield tables, which under the premise 
of a fully stocked stand, i.e. full crown cover, and 
of proper practice in thinning out the dying trees, 
record the progress of volume accretion. These 
tables, then, are standards of measurement, with 
which the forester can compare his actual forest, to 
see how far he is away from the possible or normal 
conditions, and what he may expect to produce 
in the future. These state, for a given species and 
given site, usually in periods of ten years, the total 
amount of wood per acre which will have been 
produced every ten years, and possibly the differ- 
ent classes or sizes of wood, stated at least percent- 
ically, the number of trees to be present, their 
average height and diameter, and other similar in- 
formation. For illustration such a table will be 
found in the Appendix. 



160 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

While in our natural unmanaged woods the final 
useful crop, which usually has accumulated over 200 
years before it is considered fit for harvest, rarely 
exceeds 8000 cubic feet, in the managed German 
spruce forest, fully covering the ground, from which 
all useless species are eradicated, we may find at 
30 years over 3000 cubic feet of wood, more than 
three times that amount at 60 years, and at 100 
years 14,000 cubic feet of timber wood, having pro- 
duced at the rate of 70 cubic feet during the first 
two decades, at the rate of 240 cubic feet in the 
third decade, reaching its maximum with 267 cubic 
feet in the fourth decade, declining after this dec- 
ade so that in the ninth decade the rate may be 
only 100 cubic feet per year, and at 100 years the 
average rate for the whole period has become only 
140 cubic feet. On poorer soils much less, down 
to one-half, of this production may be expected, and 
with other species, of course, the general progress 
of accretion and final result must differ ; yet there 
is a remarkable regularity, a law of accretion ob- 
servable in all conditions, upon which an analysis of 
the assiduously gathered data lets in a flood of light. 

While the natural forest, if not interfered with 
by man or by accident such as fire, would follow, 
of course, the same laws, yet practically the result 
is a different one, because the economic point of 
view is left out, and tree weeds are mixed with 
the valuable species, thus naturally reducing the 
amount of useful production. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FOREST. 161 

But if we take the small stands here and there 
which occur in nature's forest, grown under similar 
premises as those of the tables, we will find, as 
would be expected, the same results ; the stand 
has developed in the manner indicated by the 
tables. 

These tables of normal forest yield can serve 
us as a goal which may be gained by a proper 
forest management, when the useful product of 
nature's forest can be trebled and quadrupled. 

To illustrate the economic and practical value of 
the laws deduced from these tables we may state 
only a few of them. The so-called rapid growers, 
i.e. those trees which have a rapid height growth 
in their youth, are, in the end, not the largest pro- 
ducers, if stout sizes are desired ; the persistent 
growers, i.e. mostly the shade-enduring trees, pro- 
duce relatively more in the long run. Hence, the 
rapid-growing aspen, which is near the end of its 
life at 80 years, may have then produced at best 
7600 cubic feet to the acre, while the shady, slower, 
but persistent spruce has, by that time, accumu- 
lated over 12,000 cubic feet, and is still growing 
at the rate of over 80 cubic feet per year. 

On good sites and with rapid-growing species, 
the culmination of the rate of volume growth 
occurs earlier than under opposite conditions, and 
then declines more rapidly, influencing, therefore, 
the most opportune time for harvest. For the 
Scotch pine the highest rate of production may be 

M 



162 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

found on good sites between the twentieth and for- 
tieth year, with over 160 cubic feet per acre, and 
on poorer sites a decade later; while the slow- 
growing beech shows its culmination between the 
fiftieth and seventieth year, with 190 cubic feet 
per acre. 

In general, the volume of a stand progresses 
much more slowly than that of a single tree, and 
much more regularly, since it expresses all the 
variable conditions. It is a matter of simple 
mathematical demonstration that the maximum 
average accretion occurs when it is equal to the 
current accretion, i.e. equal to the accretion of the 
particular year. In other words, when the accre- 
tion which has occurred through a series of years, 
divided by the number of years, happens to be as 
large as the accretion of the current year, the high- 
est average production per acre and year has been 
attained. This occurs mostly before the fiftieth 
year with light-needing species and on good sites, 
later on poor sites and with shade-enduring species, 
but, to be sure, the value accretion, which depends 
upon the amount of large-sized material, culminates 
very much later. 

If a group of some hundred trees have grown 
together in dense stand, they develop so regularly 
and interdependently that the following relations 
will prevail : the contents of the average tree will 
be found to equal very nearly one-tenth of the vol- 
ume of the three stoutest and the seven slimmest 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FOREST. 163 

trees which participate in the upper crown level, 
and the volume of the whole stand may then be 
closely approximated by multiplying this amount 
by the number of trees involved : 

(vol. of stand = n x 3 max. + 7 minA 

If the trees are arranged in size-classes from the 
stoutest down, the average tree will be found to 
be at about 40 per cent from the stoutest. For 
instance, in 500 trees, the 200th tree, counting from 
the stoutest, will be the average tree. Moreover, if 
these trees arranged in size-classes are divided into 
five groups, the first fifth will contain 40 per cent 
of the total volume, the second fifth 24 per cent, 
the third 17 per cent, the fourth 12 per cent, and 
the last, the slimmest, will represent only 7 per 
cent of the total volume of all the trees. 

These interesting deductions from the yield 
tables, which could be multiplied, are cited merely 
to impress upon the reader the fact that the forest 
grows under the influence of recognizable laws, 
just as the single tree does. If we differentiate 
the volume into the different sizes of material, 
logs of given diameter, cords of certain character, 
etc., expressed in quantities or relative proportions, 
and apply market prices, we can come to a concep- 
tion of the value accretion of a stand at any par- 
ticular time, and then can discuss upon a tangible 
basis the results of a forest management which 
may change at will the growth conditions and de- 



164 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

velopment of a forest stand to secure certain 
results in a given time. 

Instead of computing total quantities, we can 
express the relationships in percentic proportions, 
conceiving the stand of trees as a capital, and the 
accretion as the interest on such capital, and speak 
of the accretion per cent as basis for the more com- 
plicated finance calculations. 



CHAPTER VII. 

METHODS OF FOREST CROP PRODUCTION: 
SILVICULTURE. 

There is nothing that needs to be more strongly- 
emphasized and impressed upon the American 
public, and even upon the young professional for- 
ester, than that the main business of the forester 
is expressed in the one word " reproduction " ; his 
main obligation is the replacement of the crop 
he has harvested, whether produced by unaided 
nature or otherwise, by as good, if not a better 
crop of timber than he found. 

Silviculture, the technique of the growing of 
wood-crops, a branch of the broader subject of 
arboriculture, is the pivot upon which the whole 
forestry business turns. 

As the farmer sows and reaps, so the forester 
harvests and replaces, although the methods of the 
two have little in common. Nor are the methods 
employed in other arboricultural pursuits applica- 
ble, such as the orchardist uses where the fruit is 
the object, or the landscape gardener, who looks 
for aesthetic effect, or the roadside planter, who 
desires the shade. 

165 



166 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

The tree which satisfies these arboriculturists 
does not at all satisfy the requirements of the 
forester, for his point of view, his aim, is a different 
one and hence his methods are his own. In fact, 
single trees are not his object any more than the 
single grass blade is the object of the farmer ; the 
largest amount of wood in the most salable or 
profitable form is his aim, logs rather than trees, 
and the financial results from their harvest. The 
final aim of the silviculturist is, therefore, attained 
only when he has removed the old trees and re- 
placed them by a young crop. He grows trees in 
masses and for their substance. Not only does he 
deal with trees in masses, but with trees in natural 
conditions, being by financial considerations often 
limited in the use of artificial aids and methods, 
such as the other arboriculturists and the farmer 
in his crop production may employ. 

Restricted as he is, or finally will be, to the poorer 
soils and conditions, those least favorable to agri- 
cultural production, he is forced to the most con- 
servative management of the natural conditions 
in order to secure a desirable result without too 
much expenditure, which his long-maturing crop 
cannot repay. 

The simplest method of harvesting the crop of 
nature and replacing it is to cut clean or clear the 
ground and plant or sow the new crop, the farmer's 
method. This is called "artificial reproduction" or 
" reforestation,'' and is largely practised in Europe. 



SILVICULTURE. 167 

It is, of course, the only method applicable where 
the forest crop is to be started anew on abandoned 
fields, on the forestless prairies and plains, on the 
burnt areas which have grown up to useless 
brush, in short, where no old crop of desirable 
species is on the ground. Where an old crop of 
desirable kinds is already on the ground, the same 
method of clearing followed by artificial reforesta- 
tion may be employed, but there is also a choice 
of producing the new crop by seeds falling from 
the trees of the old crop, by "natural regen- 
eration." 

This method is the one by which nature main- 
tains the forest. As trees grow old, decay, and 
fall, an opening is made into which the neighbor- 
ing trees throw their seeds and fill up the gap with 
a new seedling growth. The forester profits from 
this observation, and with the recognition of the 
laws under which forest growth develops, as 
detailed in the preceding chapter, he gives merely 
direction to this development in such a manner as 
to reduce the unfavorable and increase the favor- 
able conditions of development for whatever kinds 
he may desire to propagate, avoiding the use of 
the planting tool, and managing to secure the 
reproduction and development of the young crop 
by the mere use of the axe in the old crop. But 
he uses the axe differently from the lumberman. 

The lumberman, the first exploiter of the mixed 
virgin forest, treats it like a mine from which he 



168 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

takes the pay ore, culling the best kinds and cuts, 
and abandoning the rest to its fate, which is 
usually made hazardous by fires running through 
the forest, fed by the debris he has left. 

If these fires have not killed the remaining 
growth, he may come back after a few years, and 
may find some of the smaller trees of the useful 
kinds, which he had left standing, grown to such a 
size as will pay to cut and transport to market ; these 
he calls "second growth." Possibly he may re- 
peat this culling process several times ; but finally 
the desirable kinds are cut out, and there is left a 
growth of undesirable kinds, of weeds which he 
has helped in their struggle with their rivals of 
useful kinds, by the removal of the latter. 

Meanwhile, wherever an opening is made by the 
cutting of trees, seeds from the neighboring growth 
fall to the ground and sprout, giving rise to some 
aftergrowth, but this is apt to be preponderantly 
of the undesirable kinds which were left ; more- 
over, this young growth under the shade of the 
old trees, being deprived of the desirable amount 
of light, develops slowly and poorly. As a result 
of these operations, then, not only the present com- 
position of the growth is deteriorated, but also its 
future. Thus, in Kentucky, where the valuable 
white oak used to form 40 per cent of the forest, the 
aftergrowth contains hardly 5 per cent; and in 
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, where the 
white pine has been culled out severely, its absence 



SILVICULTURE. 1 69 

in the young growth has led to the curious belief 
among lumbermen that it does not propagate itself 
by seed. 

The forester, on the other hand, treats the forest 
as a permanent investment and as a crop. All his 
operations keep in mind continuity and permanency 
for the future. Reproduction not only, but repro- 
duction of the most useful kinds 1 and superior 
quality is his aim. 

The forester, instead of culling out the best kinds 
first, as the lumberman does, would take out the 
undesirable ones first, and thus improve the com- 
position of his crop. The material which results 
from these so-called " improvement cuttings " may 
sometimes not directly pay for the labor spent on 
them, but they are cultural operations, designed 
to put the property in more useful condition for 
the future, and hence they are at least indirectly 
profitable. 

When in this way the desirable kinds have been 
given the advantage (or sometimes simultaneously 
with the improvement cuttings), a gradual removal 
of these takes place, either of single individuals here 
and there, or of groups of them, making larger or 
smaller openings ; or else more or less broad strips 
are cleared, on which the seed falling from the 
remaining neighboring growth can find lodgement, 

1 Of the nearly 500 species native to our country, only about 70 
furnish wood of sufficient size and quality to deserve the attention 
of the furester. 



170 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

and sprout ; and, as the young seedlings require 
more light for their development, gradually more 
of the older timber is removed, or the openings are 
enlarged for new crops of young growth, and thus 
the reproduction is secured gradually, while har- 
vesting the old crop. 

Finally, when the last stick of old timber has 
been removed — and in a well-developed forestry 
system every stick is expected to be utilized — 
a young growth composed as far as possible only 
of the more useful kinds has taken the place of 
the virgin forest, to grow until it becomes profit- 
able to harvest again, when the same methods will 
secure another reproduction, and so on. 

To be sure, these operations are not quite so 
simple as they appear from this statement, for 
considerable knowledge of the requirements of 
each species and judgment of the needs of the 
young crop for its best development are needed to 
secure a successful regeneration, two requisites 
secured by study and experience, which, for Amer- 
ican species and conditions, are still lacking to a 
large extent. 

The progress and manner in which the natural re- 
generation by seed is secured give rise to variously 
named methods and to various results in the ap- 
pearance and development of the young crop ; but 
in all of these so-called natural regeneration meth- 
ods the young crop is secured by seed falling from 
the mother trees on or near the ground to be re- 



SILVICULTURE. 171 

cuperated, and the old crop is removed more or 
less gradually, to make room for the young crop, 
the main difference being in the rapidity with 
which the old crop is removed. 

The choice of method depends upon financial 
as well as silvicultural considerations. 

In protection forests and luxury forests, in which 
the financial questions become secondary and the 
requirement of a continuous soil cover may be 
paramount, the choice of method is circumscribed 
by this consideration. Here, methods in which the 
old crop is very slowly removed and replaced by 
the new crop are indicated, even if financial and 
silvicultural results would make other methods 
desirable. 

In supply forests, the cheapest method which 
secures desirable proportionate results in the crop 
is to be chosen. This must vary according to 
local conditions. Climate, soil, and species to be 
dealt with call for silvicultural considerations ; the 
relative cost of planting and of logging or harvest- 
ing under different methods influence the financial 
results. 

The clearing process followed by artificial re- 
placement entails a money outlay for the latter 
from year to year ; the gradual removal methods 
with natural seeding avoid, to be sure, this outlay, 
but, since to secure the same amount of harvest, a 
larger territory must be cut over, they entail large 
initial investment for means of transportation, which 



172 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

must be maintained for all the years of removal, 
and they occasion also otherwise greater expenses 
in the harvest than the concentrated logging in the 
clearing system, which may be done over tempo- 
rary roads. Where, as in Germany, most forest 
districts are provided with well-built permanent 
road systems, gradual removal methods are often 
probably the least expensive; but in the United 
States, in most places, unless water transportation 
can be relied upon, a gradual removal system 
means heavy initial outlays for roads, which may 
make the clearing followed by planting the cheaper 
method. It is in most conditions also the surer; 
for a complete success of the young crop can, in 
most cases, be forced. In the natural regeneration 
methods there are elements of uncertainty, the seed 
years may not come when expected ; in a mixed 
forest, which, for many reasons, is the most desira- 
ble form, the species seed irregularly, have different 
requirements of light, so that the composition can- 
not be very well controlled ; the damage and loss 
occasioned in the young crop by the removal of 
the old crop must be discounted in the final result ; 
and besides, where the removal is very slow, the 
young crop is impeded in its development by the 
shade of the old crop. These systems, therefore, 
are better adapted to shade-enduring species than 
to light-needing. The main argument and the 
most important in favor of these methods is that 
they furnish protection to the soil, preventing its 



SILVICULTURE. 1 73 

deterioration under the influence of sun and wind, 
to which the soil is liable in a clearing system, and 
giving also protection to the tender seedlings of 
such species as are subject to frost or drought. 
Under such conditions, therefore, i.e. where pro- 
tection of soil and young crop are necessary, the 
gradual removal methods will be chosen. 

Over 80 per cent of the forests of Germany are 
managed under a clearing system and rapid 
removal systems, and only 20 per cent under slow 
removal and other systems. 

Where, as in our culled forests, the valuable 
species have been removed and the weed trees 
have been left in possession, it stands to reason 
that no natural regeneration method will reestab- 
lish the better species ; they must be restored by 
artificial means. Finally, where conditions per- 
mit, a combination of natural and artificial methods 
may be resorted to in order to* secure the best 
result. 

The crudest, least intensive method is an im- 
provement on the method of the lumberman, 
who culls the best trees here and there, the 
so-called method of selection. The improvement 
over the lumberman's practice, who is concerned 
only in the removal of the useful timber, consists 
in looking somewhat after the fate of the young 
growth, protecting it against competing species, 
giving it light as soon as practicable by further 
culling, and improving the composition by reduc- 



174 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

ing the weed trees and also leaving more seed 
trees. 

The result is a forest in which all ages and 
sizes are scattered over the entire area, coming 
nearest to the conditions of nature. 

This system, in which the young crop has a 
poor chance to develop, and which is applicable 
to shade-enduring species only, is recommended 
for protective forest areas. In Germany it is 
applied only on small areas and on the steepest 
slopes, less than 10 per cent of the German forest 
area being managed under it, and in the Prussian 
state forests, less than \ per cent. 

The continuous soil cover, to be sure, is a 
feature which is its greatest recommendation, 
but this is secured at great expense and loss in 
accretion. 

To permit a better chance for the young growth, 
the so-called "grbup method" has been lately de- 
vised, in which not single trees, but groups of 
trees, are removed and the opening is expected 
to be seeded by the neighboring trees. From 
time to time, as soon as the young growth is well 
established, the opening is enlarged and additions 
of young growth secured in the form of an irregular 
ring or band around that of preceding years. 

An older method, similar to the last, consists in 
making the opening in the form of a narrow strip 
at right angles to the prevailing winds, and as the 
ground is seeded to clear a new strip toward the 



SILVICULTURE. 1 75 

windward side. This "strip method," just as any 
method which relies upon the seed furnished by a 
neighboring growth, is more successful with those 
kinds which have light-winged seeds, easily carried 
by the winds over the area to be seeded, and which 
do not require any protection in their infantile 
stage. It is a method which, on account of the 
greater concentration in harvest, is probably advis- 
able in many cases in the United States. 

For heavy-seeded kinds like oaks, beech, hick- 
ories, and other nut trees, the more complicated 
method of " regeneration under shelter wood or 
nurse trees " becomes necessary ; this consists in a 
series of severe preparatory thinnings of the old 
crop which is to be reproduced, beginning a year or 
more before the time when a full seed crop is to be 
expected, seed years recurring more or less period- 
ically. These preparatory thinnings are made for 
the purpose of exposing the soil to atmospheric 
influences, which hasten the decomposition of the 
litter, thereby securing a serviceable seed bed. 
Enough trees of the kind to be reproduced are 
left on the ground to secure full seeding and 
shelter and protection of the young crop. When 
the latter has come up, the nurse trees are gradually 
removed to give the young seedlings the required 
light. The whole operation, until the last nurse 
trees are removed and the young crop is established, 
may take from three to ten and more years, accord- 
ing to kinds, soil conditions, climate, and success 



176 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

in securing the seeding. The greatest nicety of 
judgment is required to direct these operations, 
taking into account the requirements of the species 
and the conditions and progress of development of 
the young crop. 

To secure a full crop by this natural method 
often requires, not only careful manipulation, but 
patient waiting for years, since trees do not bear 
seed every year and the young crop may from this 
or other causes fail to establish itself wholly or in 
part, when another seed year must be awaited, or 
the "fail" places filled out artificially by planting. 

The artificial reforestation may be made either 
by sowing the seed or by transplanting seedlings 
secured from nurseries or from the woods. This 
planting or sowing is done after more or less care- 
ful preparation of the soil, the preparation and 
manner of planting depending on soil conditions, 
species, and financial considerations. 

Simple and effective as these artificial methods 
are, there are certain dangers connected with them, 
which follow their injudicious application. The 
exposure of the soil may lead to its deterioration, 
the sun-warmed areas are apt to breed insects, the 
standing timber, exposed to sweeping winds, may 
be thrown when the opening is large. 

Where in a natural seeding a hundred thousand 
seedlings would cover the soil and quickly replace 
the shelter removed in the old growth, economy 
will permit the planting of only a few thousand 



SILVICULTURE. 1 77 

(usually 2500-5000 per acre), and it requires years 
before the crowns of the young growth close up to 
shade the ground thoroughly, meanwhile weeds and 
grass sapping its strength and retarding the devel- 
opment of the crop. Nevertheless, by a judicious 
application, making the openings small, utilizing the 
shelter of some left-over trees for partial protection, 
increasing the number of plants, or sowing a cheap 
nurse crop, these dangers may be avoided. 

Theoretically, however, the regeneration under 
shelter wood with a short period of removal is con- 
sidered the most efficient. 

While all these methods rely upon a reproduc- 
tion of the new crop by seed, directly or indirectly, 
there is another mode of reproduction possible, 
owing to the capacity of some trees to reproduce 
new parts from buds, forming shoots from the 
stumps after the old tree is cut. These stool 
shoots, or sprouts, grow into trees, and by the 
mere harvest of the old crop, the new crop is se- 
cured. This, in turn, may be cut, and the stump 
will produce again and again new sprouts. This 
simplest and crudest system of reproduction, called 
" coppice," which results involuntarily when the 
old hardwoods are cut, is applicable only to the 
broad-leaved trees which are capable of producing 
valuable shoots in this manner ; the coniferous 
trees, like pines, spruces, etc., are practically ex- 
cluded, although some possess the capacity of 
sprouting in inferior degree. 

N 



178 ECONOMICS Ot FORESTRY. 

Even in broad-leaved trees the capacity for 
sprouting is possessed in different degree by the 
different species, and is more or less lost by all in 
old age ; and especially after repeated harvests the 
stumps become exhausted and die, so that the 
forest is apt gradually to deteriorate in compo- 
sition as well as in density, unless fresh blood is 
added by reproduction from seed. 

Thus in Pennsylvania, where the system has 
been in vogue for a century and more to furnish 
charcoal for the iron furnaces, the valuable white 
oaks and hickories have been crowded out by the 
chestnut, which is a superior sprouter; similarly, 
in Massachusetts the inferior white birch replaces 
the more valuable kinds in the coppice, as their 
stocks weaken and fall a prey to rot. 

Another disadvantage of this coppice system 
under which the woodlands of deciduous trees in 
almost all New England and the Atlantic States 
are reproduced is that, although the sprouts de- 
velop much faster than the seedlings from the 
start, they soon fall off in their growth, and are 
capable merely of furnishing small dimensions 
and fire wood. The coppice, therefore, is useful 
only for certain purposes, but cannot be relied 
upon to furnish material for the great lumber 
market. 

The deterioration consequent to the continued 
application of the coppice is best studied in Italy 
and in certain parts of France, where serviceable 



SILVICULTURE. 1 79 

timber is almost unknown, and fagots of small 
fire wood are precious articles. 

To avoid this objection a mixed system has been 
practised, by which part of the crop (the so-called 
standards) is allowed to grow up and be reproduced 
by seed, while the other part is treated as coppice ; 
but in this so-called standard-coppice (Ger. Mittel- 
wald, Fr. taillis compos^ the standards, unimpeded 
in their branch development, do not form service- 
able trunks, and in addition, by their shade injure 
the coppice growth. 

While, then, these methods are of limited use, 
the only method of reproducing the forest which 
is to serve as a basis for the supply of the enormous 
quantities of saw timber required in the markets 
is the so-called timber forest, the high forest, Hoch- 
wald of the Germans, or futaie of the French, 
which is reproduced by seed, and grows to full 
size and maturity, to be again so reproduced. 

As in the natural methods the axe is the only 
tool which is used to secure the regeneration, so is 
the axe the only tool which cultivates the young 
crop, such cultivation consisting in the judicious 
removal of surplus trees by the so-called thinnings, 
by which the quantity and quality of the crop is 
increased. To understand this, it is necessary to 
know that trees form wood by the function of the 
foliage under the influence of light. 

Hence a tree with much foliage and unimpeded 
access of light is bound to make much wood. 



l80 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

These conditions are fulfilled when the tree is 
allowed to grow in open stand, as on a lawn, 
without close neighbors, who would cut off some 
of the light supply. 

But trees under such conditions grow mostly 
into branches, the crown being developed at the 
expense of the bole, which remains short and 
more or less conical in shape, of little commercial 
or technical use, except for firewood ; when the 
trunk is sawn into boards every branch appears 
as a defect, known as a knot, which makes it unfit 
for use in the better class of work, and thus, while 
the total quatitity of wood in the tree is increased 
by the open stand, it is done at the expense of 
quality. 

The object of the forester, however, is not sim- 
ply to grow wood, but to produce wood of such 
form and quality as is useful in the arts. The 
ideal tree for him is one with a long, cylindrical, 
branchless trunk, bearing its crown high up, which 
when cut into lumber produces the largest amount 
of material clear of knots, of straight fibre, and 
giving the least amount of waste or fire wood. 

His aim, therefore, must be to so place his trees 
that, while the largest possible amount of wood 
shall be produced, it shall be deposited in the most 
useful form also. 

By a close position, when each tree cuts off the 
side light from the neighbor, the formation of 
branches is prevented, or the branches which were 



SILVICULTURE. 181 

formed, being overshadowed, soon lose their vital- 
ity, die, and finally break off, leaving the shaft 
smooth, and, if this clearing was effected before 
the branches had reached considerable size, the 
amount of clear lumber is increased. 

But again, if the trees are kept too close, if too 
many trees are allowed to grow on the acre, each 
one having the smallest amount of foliage and 
light at its disposal, the amount of wood produced 
by the acre may be fully as large as it is capable 
of producing, but it is distributed over so many 
individuals that each develops at the very slowest 
rate, and hence does not grow to useful size in the 
shortest time. 

To secure his object, producing the largest 
amount per acre of the most useful wood in the 
shortest time, the forester must know what number 
of trees to permit to grow, so as to balance the 
advantages and disadvantages of close and open 
position. 

This number differs not only according to the 
species composing his crop, but also according 
to soil and climatic conditions and to the age of 
the crop, as we have seen in the preceding 
chapter. 

Some trees, having considerable capacity of 
enduring shade, like the beech, sugar maple, or 
spruce, may require many more individuals to the 
acre than the more light-needing oaks or pines ; 
on richer soils fewer individuals will produce 



1 82 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

satisfactory results, when on poorer soils more 
individuals must be kept on the acre. The ques- 
tion of the proper number of trees to be allowed 
to grow per acre at different ages is one of the 
most difficult, on which practitioners differ widely. 
In general, however, the practitioner has recog- 
nized the necessity of preserving a dense position 
for the first twenty to thirty years of the young 
crop, sacrificing quantitative development to quality 
and form. The close stand secures the long, 
branchless, cylindrical trunk, which furnishes the 
clear saw-logs of greatest value. Then, when the 
maximum rate of height growth has been attained, 
a more or less severe thinning is indicated, in 
order to secure quantitative development, and 
these thinnings are repeated periodically, to give 
more light as the crowns close up, and also to 
utilize such of the trees as are falling behind in 
this wood production. 

As a result of judicious thinnings, the rate at 
which the remaining crop develops may be doubled 
and quadrupled, the heavy, more valuable sizes are 
made in shorter time, and, where the inferior mate- 
rial removed in the thinnings is salable, a much 
larger total product is in the end secured from the 
acre, for many of the trees which were removed 
and utilized would have died, fallen, and decayed 
in the natural struggle for existence. 

In German forest management the amount util- 
ized in thinnings amounts to 25 per cent and more 
of the final harvest yield. 



SILVICULTURE. 183 

Other considerations also influence these opera- 
tions, such as the preservation of soil moisture, 
which is the most essential contribution of the soil 
to tree growth, and which requires the soil to be 
kept shaded. 

In fact, there is nothing that a forester guards so 
jealously, next to the light conditions at the crown, 
as the soil conditions : a soil cover free of weeds 
and grass, and covered as amply as possible with a 
heavy mulch of decaying leaves and twigs, and if 
this best protection of the soil moisture be defi- 
cient, a cover of shrubby undergrowth which re- 
quires less water than weeds and grass — this is 
the character of a desirable forest floor. 

Altogether it will have appeared that the entire 
silvicultural requirements of the crop resolve them- 
selves into one, namely, proper management of 
light conditions, which is secured by the judicious 
use of the axe. 

While in field crops it is customary to grow only 
single species, in pure stands, the forester has dis- 
covered that, as a rule, not only better results, both 
in quantity and quality, but better protection of 
soil conditions and especially safety against many 
dangers from insects, frosts, and storms, etc., can 
be secured by mixed plantations, and hence he 
gives preference to mixed crops, although such 
crops, composed of several species, require more 
skill in their management. 

While the crop is developing, it is, of course, 



184 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

necessary to protect it against damage of various 
kinds. The young seedlings of some species are 
apt to suffer from frost or drouth, which is avoided 
by growing them under shelter of older trees, 
by draining wet places, securing opportunity for 
cold air to draw off, etc., — mostly preventive 
measures. In prairie and plain it may be possible 
to assist their resistance to such damage by culti- 
vating the ground as the farmer does, but in the 
real forest country such means are excluded by the 
character of the ground, and the expense. Alto- 
gether the only practical remedies lie in the di- 
rection of foreseeing the damage and guarding 
against it. 

Animals, and especially insects, are frequently in- 
jurious to the young crop, and insects also to old 
trees, by their defoliation. This damage, too, can be 
largely obviated by preventive measures. 

Since many, if not most, injurious insects are 
monophagous, i.e. feed on one species, or at least 
one genus, mixed forests resist their damage better, 
since the number of host plants is reduced and the 
intermixed trees impede progress and development 
of the pest. Fewer insects develop in the dense 
shade and on vigorous, healthy plants, hence they 
can be kept in check to some extent by keeping 
the crop dense and in vigorous development, when 
it can resist the attacks ; and also by keeping the 
woods clean of debris, dead and dying trees, in 
which insects develop ; finally, as ultima ratio. 



SILVICULTURE. 185 

positive measures must be resorted to for collecting 
and destroying the broods of insects before they 
have time to do damage. Considerable amounts 
of money are spent .in this direction in European 
forest management, amounting in ordinary times 
to from one-half to one cent per acre, but, from 
time to time, the pests break out in such numbers 
that no remedies will avail. 1 Some loss must 
be sustained, which is, however, of less moment 
if the crop had already developed to suitable size 
and can be harvested when the trees have been 
killed. 

Wind-storms are a danger to older timber, es- 
pecially of shallow-rooted species, like the spruce, 
and on soft soils and exposed slopes or mountain 
tops. Here care must be taken in keeping the 
stand well thinned, so that the trees may get accus- 
tomed to the swaying of the winds in more open 
stand. In this way they are induced individually 
to form a better root system and become wind-firm, 
while in the dense stand their strength was only in 
the union with neighbors. 

Under conditions where damage from windfall 
is to be expected, it becomes necessary to arrange 
the felling areas so that no stand of old timber be 
suddenly exposed to the prevailing winds by the 

1 In Bavaria, in one year (1891), $500,000, or 20 cents per 
acre of property and $1.80 per acre infested, were spent in combat- 
ing one insect, the nun, without much effect. The premature har- 
vesting of 60,000,000 cubic feet was the result of the damage. 



1 86 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

removal or harvest of a neighboring stand. Since 
the prevailing winds in the northern zone come 
mostly from the western direction, it is sought to 
secure an arrangement of the stands of different 
age in series (a "felling series"), so that the old 
and tall timber is found at the eastern end, the age 
classes grading off to the west, the youngest at the 
western end, and the tops of the series of stands 
ideally appearing like a roof slanting down from 
east to west. It is apparent that, under such an 
arrangement, the old timber can be harvested and 
reproduced without exposing any stands to the 
force of the wind, and the young timber is growing 
up under the influence of winds and becomes wind- 
firm. 

The greatest danger to forest properties, how- 
ever, is fire, and the protection against this most 
unnecessary evil, resulting mainly from man's care- 
lessness, absorbs a large part of the energy of the 
forester. Proper police, but also silvicultural meas- 
ures, reduce the amount of danger and damage. 

The damage which fire occasions is very vari- 
able, according to a variety of conditions. Most 
forest fires are confined to the forest floor, running 
in the litter and young wood, scorching the older 
trees merely ; yet, under favorable conditions, the 
fire may run up the trees, becoming a crown fire 
and propagating itself from top to top and throw- 
ing firebrands and sparks to the ground, often for 
long distances. 



SILVICULTURE. 1 87 

Young crops, during the seedling and brush- 
wood stage, are readily killed, while older timber 
may stand scorching without much or any damage. 
Different species behave differently in this re- 
spect. The giant trees, or Sequoias, covered with 
a dense bark more than a foot thick, and their 
wood hardly inflammable, the Douglas fir, with a 
similar protection, are less liable to be damaged 
than the thin-skinned firs or spruces, beech or 
white birch and aspen. The green, succulent 
foliage and wood of broad-leaved trees is more 
resistant than the dry resinous foliage and wood 
of conifers. Drouthy conditions and dry soils are 
more likely to induce danger from fire damage 
than the opposite conditions. Finally, the presence 
or absence of an undergrowth, or debris, of dead 
and dry branches of trees, and the character of 
the forest floor, must make a difference in the ease 
with which a fire may start and run, the amount 
of heat it develops, and the consequent damage. 

The damage may consist in the total loss of the 
crop, which is usual until the pole-wood stage is 
reached. In pole wood and young or old timber the 
trunks may be only blackened, but more often the 
cambium layer below the bark is partially or en- 
tirely killed, causing either the death of the tree, 
especially when recurring fires accumulate the 
damage, or secondary damage results through rot 
or insects which develop, especially in the weakest 
trees. 



1 88 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

A damage even greater than the loss of the crop 
is experienced in the loss of the soil cover, the 
litter and duff, which is the forester's manure. 
This loss may become irreparable in localities 
where only a thin layer of mineral soil overlies the 
rock, and the opportunity for starting a new crop 
may be entirely destroyed. The fire danger in 
the United States is so great that in many local- 
ities it almost prohibits the practice of forestry; 
for who would want to invest money and energy 
in a property which is exposed to extra risks from 
fire by the absence of proper legislation, or by the 
lack of police and moral support on the part of the 
community in enforcing it, by the unpunished 
negligence or malice of incendiaries, and by the 
populational conditions of the country, which pre- 
vent the economical disposal of the debris from 
logging operations. 

The last-mentioned difficulty is perhaps the 
most important, because practically almost impos- 
sible to avoid. There must, especially in our vir- 
gin woods, always result from the harvest of the 
useful material a large amount of debris, tops, 
branches, brush, and other waste, which cannot 
be marketed ; and this not only impedes the devel- 
opment of a young crop, but adds to the danger 
from fire until decay has reduced the debris, which 
often requires many years, even decades. 

The proposition has been made to burn the 
debris after the logger. This is not as simple and 



SILVICULTURE. 1 89 

inexpensive as it appears, when care is to be taken 
not to damage the remaining growth and especially 
when natural regeneration is to be practised, or a 
young crop, already in part provided by nature, is 
to be saved. 

Where the culling is made light, only here and 
there a tree being taken, especially in the mixed 
forest, the amount of debris also is small and it 
may be left to natural decay, with the only pre- 
caution that the branches of the top are lopped 
so as to have the whole mass come into as close 
contact with the ground as possible, when the 
decay proceeds more rapidly. 

But where the culling is severe, as is often 
called for in pure woods and also in mixed stands, 
and a large amount of debris results, even this 
lopping of tops is of no avail; the fire risk con- 
tinues for many years. Incessant watching dur- 
ing the dangerous season is necessary, and even 
this proves futile, for a fire, easily started by the 
slightest carelessness or by lightning, 1 will run in 
the debris so fast that no human power can stop it. 

1 Although undoubtedly most fires are the result either of malice, 
foolishness, or carelessness, namely, by smokers, campers, farmers 
in clearing brushlands, and others using fires, locomotives throwing 
sparks from smoke-stacks and ash-pits, the writer can attest that light- 
ning is occasionally the cause of fires. The old " snags," dead 
trees, the result of previous fires, are especially liable to be struck by 
lightning, and being dry, they burn, and propagate the fire either by 
the flames burning down to the ground, or else by sparks and burn- 
ing limbs falling to the ground; but the writer has also seen live 



190 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Partial burning and piling of the brush reduce 
the danger somewhat, but hardly in proportion to 
the expense. The readiest remedy, where forestry 
is to be practised under such conditions, is to make 
a clean sweep, that is, clearing, burning up the 
debris, and replanting, or else, if natural regenera- 
tion is to be relied upon, adopting the strip system, 
when the opportunity of burning the debris totally 
is still possible. 

The danger from the debris continues longer in 
coniferous woods than in the deciduous-leaved, the 
wood of which decays more readily in contact with 
the ground, although usually, in these latter, larger 
amounts of debris result. For instance, in the hard- 
wood forests of the Adirondacks, the merchantable 
log material presents only one-third of the total 
amount of wood, two-thirds being cordwood and de- 
bris. The only hope here, in the absence of a paying 
home market for fuel from this inferior material, 
is to establish chemical works for its conversion on 
a large scale into charcoal, acetic acid, wood alco- 
hol, and other useful manufactures. 

trees, even of hardwoods, blaze when struck by lightning, and prop- 
agate the fire in spite of a pelting rain. Of 509 fires occurring in 
the Bavarian state forests during 6 years, 4 were demonstrably ac- 
credited to lightning and 7 to locomotives. Of 156 conflagrations 
in the Prussian state forests during 10 years, 3 were the result of 
lightning and only 4 from locomotives, 7 years out of the 10 being 
without any record of fire from this last cause, and that on a 
property of 7,000,000 acres, over half of which was stocked with 
pine on dry sandy soil 



SILVICULTURE. 191 

In fact, the application of silviculture, i.e. the 
systematic production of wood-crops as a business 
proposition, in our culled, mismanaged woodlands 
throughout the United States is, in most cases, 
possible only where the means exist of utilizing 
this inferior material ; for the risks from fire are 
too great, or else the cash which would otherwise 
have to be spent in making room for the young 
crop will surely exceed reasonable proportions. 
Only the state or other long-lived corporations can 
afford to spend money now in the hope of ade- 
quate returns in a distant future. 

That it is finally possible to reduce the fire dan- 
ger to a minimum by proper police regulations and 
by silvicultural measures, and by proper manage- 
ment and organization, is attested by the forest 
fire statistics of the German forest administrations, 
to which we have already referred on pp. 137 and 
190. 

To these we may add that in any given longer 
period within the last 25 years the acreage de- 
stroyed in Prussia or Bavaria (about 10,000,000 
acres) rarely exceeds .005 per cent of the total forest 
area under state control. In a recent report (1896) 
we read of "very considerable damage by fire" 
occurring in the Prussian state forests, referring 
to the burning over, not total loss, of 2500 acres. 
One fire is reported as destroying 1000 acres of a 
"hopeful" pine and spruce plantation 20 to 25 
years old. In the next year (1897) the entire loss 



192 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

was not over ioo acres. This comparative im- 
munity is due to both administrative and police 
regulations. 

The Indian forest administration, under circum- 
stances not much less difficult, nay, perhaps more 
difficult, than those prevailing in the United States, 
refutes the assertion that forest fires may not be 
suppressed. 

Not only have the people of all timbered parts 
of India practised the firing of woods for many 
centuries, for purposes both of agriculture and 
pasture, but the natural conditions in many of the 
Indian forests are such as to discourage the most 
sanguine. 

The forest in most parts is a mixed growth, of 
which a considerable portion is valueless and is 
left to die and litter the ground with dry and 
decaying timber, furnishing ready fuel. A dense 
undergrowth, largely composed of giant grasses 
and bamboo, covers the ground, green or dry, 
to which is added a mass of creeping and climbing 
vegetation. It is a dangerous forest, with hot, dry 
winds to fan the flames ; and yet the forest de- 
partment fights and prevents fires, and succeeds in 
a measure. The efficiency of protection has con- 
stantly increased with perfection of methods, and 
the expenses have never exceeded $10 per square 
mile in any year on an area of over 30,000 square 
miles, of which, in 1895, not more than 8 per cent 
experienced damage. The police regulations 



SILVICULTURE. 193 

which lead to such results will be discussed in a 
succeeding chapter. 

Here the preventive silvicultural measures and 
arrangements in the forest, which are designed to 
reduce the fire danger, are to be only briefly 
enumerated. 

The experience that deciduous-leaved woods are 
less liable to danger suggests the maintenance of 
mixed forest ; the fact that old timber is compara- 
tively safer, and that on large wind-swept areas the 
heat and the rapidity of progress of a fire is in- 
creased, leads to distributing the felling areas, and 
that means the areas of young crop, isolating them, 
making them smaller, and having them surrounded 
by older timber. Removal of the dead and dying 
trees by systematic thinnings wherever possible, 
and the disposal of the slash from logging opera- 
tions, are obvious means of reducing the danger. 

In German forest districts, more especially those 
unduly exposed to fire danger, a subdivision of the 
forest into blocks surrounded by avenues, or so- 
called rides, of 8 to 40 rods width, is made. 
These rides, kept free from inflammable material 
by annual burning, or perhaps by sowing to grass, 
serve the purpose of confining the fire within the 
block, and furnishing a base from which to fight 
a fire, for which the frequent roads may also be 
utilized. 

But these openings are worse than useless unless 
kept in proper condition, and unless the forces to 



194 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

fight the fire are on hand, for if debris is allowed 
to accumulate on them, this dries out more read- 
ily, and, in addition, the draft of air along the rides 
only increases the fury of the fire. In older de- 
ciduous-leaved woods the shade keeps the ground 
moist, the fire runs more slowly, and a wider open- 
ing would in most cases prove undesirable. 

The same may be said regarding rights of way 
for railroads. The wide swath usually made, and 
usually not kept clear, but rather accumulating in- 
flammable debris, exposes the soil to the drying 
effects of sun and wind, and besides, creates drafts 
of air, fanning the sparks into flame. There would 
be more safety in a narrower opening, which the 
shade of a dense stand of timber, especially if of 
deciduous-leaved trees, would keep moist, with a 
tendency to extinguishing the sparks. The objec- 
tion that the falling of trees would impede and en- 
danger the traffic might be overcome by gradually 
removing those liable to fall. 

Through specially endangered districts, i.e. in 
coniferous forest, safety strips running along the 
right of way may be maintained. On these, on 
both sides of the track, a strip of ground 25 feet 
wide is entirely cleared of all inflammable material, 
which may, if practicable, be used for farm pur- 
poses ; this is skirted by a strip of woods 50 to 60 
feet wide, which remains wooded, acting as a screen 
for the sparks from locomotives, but is also kept 
clear from inflammable materials by annual raking 



SILVICULTURE. 1 95 

and burning. Where this is not sufficient, a ditch 
5 to 6 feet wide and a foot or so deep is opened 
on the outside of this strip toward the endangered 
woods, the soil being thrown toward the track side 
and possibly planted with a light-foliaged, decidu- 
ous-leaved species ; cross ditches through the 
safety strip every 300 feet add further to the safety 
by confining any fire within reasonable limits. The 
whole arrangement requires not over 200 feet, 
and that mostly usefully occupied, while furnishing 
almost absolute security. 

Such a system would be applicable in many 
cases in our own country. It would, with some 
slight changes, be perfectly feasible, and in the 
end profitable, for railroad companies to grow their 
tie timber in this way, using such light-foliaged 
rapid growers as black locust, catalpa, etc. 

Forest crop production as a business, silviculture, 
will become practicable and profitable in this coun- 
try only when reasonable forest protection is as- 
sured by proper exercise of state functions. 

Until this is secured, lumbermen will continue 
to exploit the natural forest without much regard 
to its fate after they have secured its present val- 
uable stores, for they cannot afford to assume the 
hazard of the fire danger. 

Before positive silvicultural methods are applied 
by them, they may find it advantageous to cut the 
virgin forest more conservatively, they may find 
that it pays in the long run better not to cull too 



196 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

closely, that it is advantageous to leave more of 
smaller sizes, i.e. to limit the diameter to which 
they remove trees, so that they may return sooner 
for a second cut, and also to avoid unnecessary 
damage to the young volunteer crop. At present 
the limitation of size to be cut or to be left uncut 
is based upon calculations of immediate profits to 
be derived, and does not take into account any 
future considerations, since the lumberman does 
not cut with a regard to the future, but attempts 
to secure the largest present gain. He views the 
forest as a mere speculation. To curtail his pres- 
ent revenue for the sake of a future revenue by 
abstaining from cutting all that is marketable is 
the first step toward changing this point of view, 
introducing the idea of continuity, and treating the 
forest as permanent investment. 

It must be understood, however, that the limita- 
tion of the size of trees to be cut or to be left uncut 
has not necessarily any bearing on the replace- 
ment of the crop ; it is not silviculture. It is in 
the main a financial measure, it being demonstrable 
that it pays better to leave small-sized trees to 
accumulate more wood before utilizing them, or 
else a device to prevent overcutting of a valuable 
species, so that it may not be eradicated too soon, 
a wise measure wherever systematic attention to 
positive silviculture cannot be given. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

METHODS OF BUSINESS CONDUCT: 
FOREST ECONOMY. 

As in every technical industry concerned in pro- 
duction, so in forestry the methods of the tech- 
nique — the technical art — are distinct from the 
methods of the business conduct. Silviculture rep- 
resents the technical art of forestry ; while under 
the comprehensive term forest economy we may 
group all that knowledge and practice which is 
necessary for the proper conduct of the business 
of forestry. 

Besides the purely technical care in managing 
the productive forces of nature to secure the best 
attainable quantitative and qualitative production of 
material, — the highest gross yield, — there must 
be exercised a managerial care to secure the most 
favorable relations of expenditure and income, — 
the highest net yield, a surplus of cash results 
without which the industry would be purposeless 
from the standpoint of private enterprise and 
investment. Moreover, an orderly conduct and 
systematic procedure to secure this revenue is 
necessary. 

197 



1 98 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Carried on by government activity for reasons 
of general cultural advantages, the net yield or 
money profits may be considered secondary, or 
perhaps may be dispensed with. It may even ap- 
pear rational to carry on forest management at a 
loss, for a time at least, just as is done in many 
other forms of public works, because of the indirect 
benefits derived from it, and for internal improve- 
ment. Nevertheless, even in that case it would be 
desirable to organize and to carry on the business 
of forest cropping systematically, with a view of 
bringing into relation results and efforts, i.e., of 
counting the cost. 

It is possible, also, to practise the art of silvicul- 
ture incidentally, as the farmer does, or can do, on 
his wood lot, without special business organization 
and elaborate planning, the owner harvesting and 
reproducing and tending his crop whenever need- 
ful ; but the case is different if forest growing is to 
be carried on as a business by itself with a view 
to continued and regular procedure, to continued 
and regular revenue ; in that case more elaborate 
planning becomes necessary. 

The one peculiarity which distinguishes the for- 
estry business from every other business is the 
time element. The forester cannot harvest annu- 
ally what has actually grown (the current incre- 
ment); the forest crop, as we have seen, must 
accumulate the accretions of many years before it 
becomes mature, i.e. of sufficient size to be useful; 



FOREST ECONOMY. 199 

hence, unless special provisions are made in the 
management of a forest property, the crop and the 
revenue would mature and be harvested periodically 
only, and that in long periods ; from twenty to a 
hundred years and more would elapse from the 
sowing to the reaping. 

The farmer may be satisfied to practise on his 
wood lot attached to his farming business what is 
technically called an " intermittent " management, 
harvesting and reproducing from time to time 
without attempting to secure regular annual re- 
turns. But when forestry is to be practised as an 
independent industry, it becomes desirable, as in 
any large mercantile establishment, to plan, organ- 
ize, and manage the business so as to secure, 
continuously and systematically, a regular annual 
income nearly equal or increasing year by year. 

The lumberman or forest exploiter also plans 
and organizes his business for annual returns, not, 
however, to be derived continuously from the same 
ground ; he seeks a new field, he changes his 
location as soon as he has exhausted the accumu- 
lated stores of his forest property, which he then 
abandons or devotes to other purposes than wood- 
cropping. 

The forester's business is based upon the con- 
ception of what is technically called the "sus- 
tained yield " (Ger. Nachhaltigkeitsbetrieb, Fr. 
Possibility a continued systematic use of the 
same property for wood -crops, the best and 



200 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

largest possible ; this is secured by proper atten- 
tion to silviculture, reproducing systematically the 
harvested crop. Finally, when the industry is 
fully established, he is annually to derive this 
" sustained yield " as far as practicable in equal or 
nearly equal amounts forever, under an " annual 
sustained yield management." This is secured by 
means of forest regulation, the principal branch of 
forest economy, 1 which comprises the methods 
of regulating the conduct of the business so as to 
secure finally the ideal of the forester, — a forest so 
arranged that annually, forever, the same amount 
of wood product, namely, that which grows annu- 
ally on all his acres, may be harvested in the most 
profitable form. 

As in every business there is an ideal, a standard 
in conduct and condition, which the manager more 
or less consciously recognizes and follows, or seeks 
to establish, yet, on account of uncontrollable cir- 
cumstances can never quite attain, so is the ideal 
of the forester never quite attainable, although it 
is his obligation to attempt and approach it as far 
as practicable. 

The ideal conduct of the management " for annual 
sustained yield " is possible only under the ideal 

1 For this branch of forest economy a number of terms have been 
used, such as " forest organization," " forest valuation," " working 
plan," "yield regulation," "forest management," which either 
linguistically are not commendable, or else single out a part of the 
work of the " forest regulator " to designate the whole. 



FOREST ECONOMY. 201 

condition, which the forester recognizes in the 
"normal forest," the standard by which he meas- 
ures his actual forest and to which he desires, as 
nearly and as quickly as circumstances permit, to 
bring his actual forest. The latter will usually be 
found abnormal in some one direction, or in several 
directions, and hence make the ideal conduct im- 
possible. The object of forest regulation, then, is 
to prepare for the change of an abnormal forest 
into a normal forest. 

In simplest terms, the normal forest is a forest in 
such condition that it is possible to harvest annually 
forever the best attainable product, or to secure con- 
tinuously the largest possible revenue. The concep- 
tion and schematic description of the normal forest 
we have already elucidated on p. 1 28 ff. It was there 
shown that such a forest must contain as many 
stands, varying in age by years or periods, as there 
are years in the rotation (r= normal felling age) 
i.e. normal age classes must be present, so that an 
annually equal normal felling budget (ri= I) might 
be harvested, the reproduction being looked after, 
and the best possible, i.e. normal accretion (7), being 
secured by silviculture. As a result of these two 
conditions the normal stock (S n ) would be present, 
which would permit the desired annual sustained 
yield management. We found that the normal 
stock, varying in actual amount, of course, accord- 
ing to species, site, silvicultural system, and espe- 
cially length of rotation, is found by summing up 



202 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

the arithmetical progression represented by the 
accumulated increments of the age classes, and that it 

rl 

assumes the general expression S n = — ; that is to 

2 

say, half the accretion which takes place through- 
out the rotation forms the normal stock, which 
must be maintained for a sustained yield manage- 
ment, the other half furnishes the harvest or 
yield during the rotation. On p. 130 examples of 
the actual volume and value of normal stock under 
different conditions were given. 

While we have assumed, for the sake of simplic- 
ity of conception, that the stands of different age, 
the age classes, are separate in area one from the 
other, it is readily conceivable that all, or some 
of them, may be mixed together, on the same 
area as in the selection forest, where all age 
classes, from the seedling to the mature timber, 
are mingled ; and if there are enough trees in 
gradation from the older to the younger, allow- 
ing for losses, so that the younger age class can 
replace in amount the older as it is removed or is 
growing out of its class, we would have arrived at 
normal condition for the selection forest. 

In the actual forest some one condition or all 
conditions will usually be found abnormal. The 
normal accretion may be deficient, because the area 
is not fully stocked or the timber is past its prime, 
old timber growing at an inferior rate, or rot off- 
setting increment. The age classes are usually not 



FOREST ECONOMY. 203 

present in proper gradation and amount ; some of 
them are probably entirely lacking, others are in 
excess, either too many stands of older or of 
younger timber, so that even if the normal stock 
of wood in amount be on hand, it may be in abnor- 
mal distribution. 

The normal accretion can, of course, be estab- 
lished only by silvicultural methods. The other 
two conditions are attained or approached by reg- 
ulating the felling budget in area and amount, so 
that gradually the age classes and the normal stock 
are established. Various methods are employed 
to determine the actual felling budget, which will 
gradually lead to the final possibility of the nor- 
mal felling budget. 

The simplest method would be to divide the 
forest into as many areas as there are years or pe- 
riods in the rotation, and cut one, or the equivalent 
in volume, every year or during every period, when 
after one rotation the age classes are established. 
If proper attention has been given to the re- 
production and to keeping the reproduced areas 
fully stocked, the normal conditions are attained 
after the forest has been once cut over, i.e. during 
the first rotation. But this would burden the pres- 
ent generation with the entire cost of securing the 
normality ; at the same time necessitating not only 
unequal felling budgets, as better or poorer stands 
are cut, but also requiring that the harvest of 
timber past its prime be deferred, if the forest 



204 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

is largely composed of old age classes, or that 
immature timber be cut prematurely, if young 
age classes predominate, — in either case a finan- 
cial loss. Indeed, the greatest practical difficulty 
which confronts the forest regulator is found in 
gauging the sacrifices which the present must 
make for the sake of the future. 

To overcome the difficulty of unequal felling 
budgets in part, the so-called " allotment methods " 
were invented, which try to distribute the felling 
areas so as to equalize the budget, the area allot- 
ment providing for equality of felling areas, the 
volume allotment for equality of volume, and the 
combined allotment securing both, the main stress 
of these methods being laid on the establishment 
of normal age classes, from which finally the nor- 
mal stock results. The simplest form of these 
methods, which is now in practice in Saxony and 
elsewhere, determines the felling budget only for 
the next decade in such a manner that the future 
will find a sufficient amount of stock on hand to 
secure an approximately sustained felling budget, 
determined from decade to decade. 

The most logical, although practically not always 
readily applicable, methods of budget regulation, 
which lay main stress on the existence of normal 
stock in proper amount, are the so-called normal 
stock or formula methods. These compare the 
actual stock (S a ) with the normal stock (S n ) which 
should be on hand, and determine the period (e) 



FOREST ECONOMY. 205 

during which the difference in stock is to be 
equalized and the normal stock is to be secured 
either by saving of increment, if there be a de- 
ficiency, or by removing any surplus during the 
period of equalization ; the establishment of the 
proper series of age classes being left to the future. 
The felling budget (b) which will secure this 
equalization may be expressed by formula : — 

b=I± ° q * n 
e 

The choice of the period of equalization (e) is to 
be made with due consideration of the financial 
aspects of the property and the owner's financial 
capacity. 

Altogether, the principle of the " owner's inter- 
est" must be the guiding one in the management 
of any property ; and it would first have to be dem- 
onstrated that a sustained yield management, either 
annual or intermittent, and sacrifices of revenue in 
the present for the sake of a future improved 
revenue are in his interest. For it must always be 
remembered that financially forestry means forego- 
ing present revenue or incurring present expenditure 
for the sake of future revenue ; it involves gauging 
present and future advantages, and the time ele- 
ment, as we have seen, is the prominent element 
in its finance calculations. 

Before an annual sustained yield management 
will appear profitable in the United States, many 



206 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

changes in economic conditions will have to take 
place, among which we may single out reduction 
of danger from fire ; opportunity for utilizing infe- 
rior material ; increase in wood prices by reduction 
of the natural supplies on which no cost of produc- 
tion need be charged ; the development of desire 
for permanent investments instead of speculative 
ones ; an extension of government functions in the 
direction indicated in the first chapter, leading to 
the practice of forestry by state governments on a 
large scale. 

Meanwhile all that can be expected from private 
forest owners is that they may practise more con- 
servative and careful logging of the natural woods, 
avoiding unnecessary waste, and as far as possible 
paying attention to silviculture, the reproduction 
of the crop, leaving to the future the attempt to 
organize a sustained yield management. Only 
governments and perpetual corporations or large 
capitalists can afford to make the sacrifices which 
are necessary to prepare now for such a manage- 
ment. 

In order to secure the data upon which the fell- 
ing budget may be regulated, a forest survey is 
necessary, which will embrace not only an area 
and topographic (geometric) survey, serving for 
purposes of subdivision, description, and orderly 
management, but also a quantitative survey, an 
ascertainment of the stock on hand in the various 
parts of the property, and of the rate of accretion 



FOREST ECONOMY. 207 

at which the different stands are growing. Besides 
this stock taking 1 and measurement of accretion, 
accompanied by a description of the forest condi- 
tions of the different parcels or stands, all of which 
exhibit the present status of the forest, the con- 
struction of so-called " normal yield tables " is 
needed. These are the result of measurements 
on the most perfect, normally stocked stands of 
various species, stating what the contents of such 
stands should be at different periods of life, gener- 
ally from ten to ten years, giving, therefore, by 
decades the progress of accretion under normal 
conditions for the area unit. With the aid of 
these tables (see Appendix to Chap. VI) the sum- 
mation of which permits a statement of the normal 
stock required for different rotations, the sustained 
yield can be ascertained by comparing with the 
actual conditions, and gauging the felling budget 
as intimated in the formula given above. 

In order to translate the statements of volumes 
recorded in the yield tables into values, which is 
needed to permit finance calculations, the progress 
of accretion, or of accumulation of stock in size or 
assortments of different value, must be ascertained. 
This leads to the construction of financial yield 
tables, which give the value from period to period 
either of the unit measure of wood (cubic feet, feet 
B.M.) or of the unit measure of area (acre) nor- 

1 For this quantitative survey, the term " valuation survey " has 
been adopted by English writers with doubtful etymologic propriety. 



208 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

mally stocked, or else the statement is made in 
percentic relation. 

When all these data have been laboriously gath- 
ered, with an attempt at a degree of accuracy 
greater or less according to the intensity of the 
proposed management, the formulation of a work- 
ing plan and the ascertainment of a proper felling 
budget can be begun. 

After having determined upon the general policy 
of management, with due consideration of the 
owner's interests and of market conditions, general 
and local ; and after having decided upon the silvi- 
cultural policy, including choice of leading species 
in the crop for which the forest is to be main- 
tained, and silvicultural method of treatment, as 
coppice or timber forest, under clearing system 
or gradual removal or selection system, — the 
most important and difficult question to be solved 
is that of the rotation, the time which is to elapse 
between reproduction and harvest, or the normal 
felling age, that is the age, or so far as age is in 
relation to size, the diameter, to which it is desirable 
to let the trees grow before harvesting them. 

In the United States, among the enthusiastic 
propagandists of the necessity of forest preserva- 
tion, there exist the crudest notions on this sub- 
ject, which it may be well here to set right. There 
is no maturity of a forest crop as we know it in 
agricultural crops ; wood does not ripen naturally, 
and trees do not even usually die a natural death 



FOREST ECONOMY. 209 

at a given period, but death is with them a gradual 
process of decay, the result of exterior damage, of 
insect and fungus attacks ; trees actually die by 
inches in most cases, and it may take hundreds of 
years before the trunk is so weakened that its own 
weight or a wind-storm may lay it low. It is, 
therefore, not practicable, as has been proposed, to 
harvest when death is approaching. Besides, the 
poetry and the picturesqueness of the forest might 
perhaps be subserved by leaving trees to grow 
until they die, allowing mighty giants to mingle 
with the younger generations, as in the virgin 
woods of nature, until they are past usefulness ; 
but it would be abhorrent to ecQ^frsajc^ Jhought 
thus to waste the energy of natur/ The question 
of ripeness, of the proper felling age, wherever 
forest growth is an object not of mere pleasure, 
as in a luxury forest, must be determined by eco- 
nomic considerations. 

There is more sense in the proposition that the 
felling age be determined by a diameter limit below 
which timber is to be considered immature ; in fact, 
the forester bases his calculations of the rotation 
in part, at least, upon size of crop. But the propo- 
sition, frequently advocated, to restrict a forest 
owner to an arbitrary diameter limit, below which he 
is not to cut his crops, anywhere and everywhere, 
is not only unsound as an exercise of state policy, 
but also mistakes the economic questions involved 
in the determination of that limit, and entirely 



210 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

misjudges the value of the limitation as far as 
silvicultural results, the perpetuation of a valuable 
forest, are concerned. In fact, from this last and 
most important point of view it might be wiser, 
under certain conditions, to impose upon the owner 
the cutting out of everything below a given diam- 
eter. For, as we have seen in nature's mixed 
forest, valuable timber and weed trees are growing 
side by side ; the diameter restriction indiscrimi- 
nately applied might prevent the removal of the 
objectionable portion, the weed growth, putting a 
premium upon the decimation of the more valuable 
portion. Without silviculture, i.e. attention to sys- 
tematic reproduction, a diameter restriction is of 
little value. With silviculture it is not necessary, for 
even the entire removal of the whole crop — denu- 
dation — and its replacement by planting or sowing 
would accomplish the object sought, namely, the 
continuity of the forest, and in many cases might 
be preferable to other methods. Arbitrary diameter 
restriction is merely a device to prevent a too 
rapid reduction of a valuable species before the 
time when its reestablish ment by silvicultural 
methods becomes practicable. Otherwise a diam- 
eter limitation has justification only when it can 
be shown that it is more profitable and in the 
owner's interest to leave trees below the diameter 
limit uncut for a longer time. 

In other words, the determination of the rotation 
or felling age, or of the felling size, is largely a 



FOREST ECONOMY. 211 

matter of financial calculation. This calculation is, 
however, influenced by silvicultural and technical, 
as well as purely financial, considerations. The 
fact that the stocks in a coppice lose their vigor if 
sprouts are left too long uncut, or that frequent and 
full seed years do not occur until a certain period 
in the life of the crop, sets limitations to the length 
of rotation ; the technical value of the product, sal- 
ability, and market requirements for special materi- 
als (firewood, poles, mining timber, railroad ties, saw 
timbers) may influence the choice, but finally quan- 
tity of product and money yield are determinative. 

From the standpoint of political economy it was 
supposed that the largest volume of product per 
acre per annum, the rotation of maximum volume, 
should be the aim of forest management, and the 
rotations chosen for state forests in Germany, 
which lie mostly between 90 and 140 years, were 
supposed to be based upon this principle. Lately, 
however, it has been shown that the largest aver- 
age product of wood per acre and year occurs much 
earlier, and usually before much of the crop has 
attained to desirable size. 

Since the accretion of a stand varies from period 
to period, gradually increasing in rate from its early 
stages to a given age and then again sinking, there 
must be a time when the average of all the differ- 
ent rates, the average accretion, attains its maxi- 
mum. If, for instance, a fully stocked acre of 
spruce contained at 120 years 10,200 cubic feet of 



212 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

wood, it would have produced an average per year 

of =85 cubic feet; if a stand at 80 years 

120 J 

contained 6880 cubic feet, it would have produced 

an average per year of ^ = 86 cubic feet; 

hence from the standpoint of volume production a 
rotation of 80 years would be preferable. 

It will be readily admitted that value production 
rather than volume production should be the aim, 
and since with age the size and with it the value 
increases, the year of maximum volume production 
will be of iuterest only as denoting the lowest limit 
of a rotation based on value accretion. If the 
price of 80-year-old wood averaged for all sizes 

3 cents per cubic foot, and of 120-year-old wood 

4 cents, then in the above example the average value 

1 ,, i 10200x4 

accretion m the one case would be = 

120 

$3.40 per year, while in the second case it would 

. , 6880x3 „ _ , . 

have been — 5 — - = $2.58 per year, hence the 

oO 

longer rotation would appear more favorable. 

But even the rotation of maximum value produc- 
tion will not satisfy any private investor, since it 
leaves out of consideration the expenditures nec- 
essary to secure the result. The annual expendi- 
tures for planting, taxes, administration, which are 
necessary to secure the annual harvest, should at 
least be deducted, and since these vary with the 



FOREST ECONOMY 213 

length of rotation, that rotation should be found 
at which the surplus of the annual values derived 
from the harvest over the annual expenditures is 
greatest, the so-called rotation of the highest forest 
rent. Finally, even this method of calculation can- 
not satisfy a strict financier, for it neglects to take 
account of the capital invested and the relation of 
the revenue to this capital, it neglects the interest 
account. 

The true financial rotation is that which brings 
the highest rate of interest on all the capital in- 
vested in soil and stock of wood, or, as it is techni- 
cally known, the rotation of the highest soil rent or 
" soil expectancy value " (Ger. Bodenerwartungs- 
wertli). 

As we have seen (p. 129), the amount of stock 
of wood which must be maintained as capital for 
a sustained yield management increases with the 
length of rotation. In our example, in order to 
bring the stock corresponding to an 80-year rota- 
tion to the amount needed for a 100-year rotation 
would require that the owner should abstain from 
harvesting for about 20 years. The question then 
arises whether this saving will prove profitable, 
whether the accumulation of values to the 100th 
year, which can only then be harvested, will ex- 
ceed the results which could be had by harvesting 
in the 80th year and investing the proceeds. Here 
appears for the first time the need of that branch 
of forest economy which may be truly called for- 



214 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

est valuation, or better, forest finance and forestry 
statics. This branch concerns itself, not only 
with the ascertainment of the present value of a 
single stand, and with the future value to which it 
is growing, but also with its value as a part of a 
regulated forest management, in which for all time 
to come it is an inherent necessary member as a 
producer of values. It also occupies itself with 
comparisons of the financial results of different 
kinds of management. 

It is here that the foremost peculiarity of forest 
economy, namely, the time element, comes most 
prominently to expression. The inability of with- 
drawing annually the interest on the invested capi- 
tal makes compound interest calculations necessary, 
and since the investment in the young plantation, 
for instance, will have to be left untouched, accu- 
mulating upon itself the interest for fifty, one hun- 
dred, or more years, the question as to what interest 
rate it is fair to assume for compounding on such 
a long time investment, becomes important. It is 
well known that every business, every employment 
of capital, according to its character, works with a 
different interest rate. There are many reasons 
why the forestry business should work with a low 
rate of interest. Compounding for such a long 
time, the general tendency of sinking interest 
rates must be taken into account, while, on the 
other hand, history has shown and philosophy 
sustains the expectation that prices for wood are 



FOREST ECONOMY. 21 5 

likely to rise, as natural supplies are exhausted, and 
the demand for the better soils for agricultural use 
limits forest growing to the poorer, absolute forest 
soil. Forest properties, with the exception of the 
danger from fire, which will be greatly reduced 
when systematic management is begun, are in 
general safe properties and easily managed, requir- 
ing little labor. Hence, if safe long time invest- 
ments in the United States, such as savings and 
trust companies favor, are bringing now only 3 and 
3 J per cent, it is justifiable to use no higher, pos- 
sibly a lower, interest rate in forestry calculations. 
If now we inquire what the " soil expectancy 
value," i.e. the value of the soil expressed by its 
expected yields, is, and how it is calculated, we 
must first conceive that every stand in a regulated 
forest management is expected to be harvested 
every r years (years of rotation) forever; the 
income is therefore in the nature of a periodic 
or intermittent interminable rent or revenue (R), 
the capital value of which at present (C ) being 
found by well-known mathematical methods in the 

expression C = - The rent or revenue 

is composed of the final harvest yield ( Y r ), and of 
intermediate incomes by thinning (7), occurring in 
the years a, b, etc., the values of which have to be ex- 
tended for purposes of comparison to the same time in 
which the harvest yield occurs, namely to the year r. 
The expenditures which have to be offset are the out- 



2i6 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

lay for planting (c), if any, occurring at the begin- 
ning of the rotation, and hence to be extended to 
the end of the rotation, in order to bring it into 
relation with the yield, and the annual expenditures 
for administration, which can be expressed as a capital 
(A), furnishing yearly forever the needed amount. 
With these items we can then express the soil rent 
value — 

r _ Y r + T a i>op r - a + T b i-op r - h -. + Tgi-opr-i-c-i-opr 

Og — ■ — A. 

By entering values which correspond to different 
rotations, that one may be found in which the soil 
rent value appears as a maximum, the true financial 
rotation. 

It will readily appear that, while theoretically this 
is the only correct financial method of calculating, 
practically it is difficult, almost impossible, to deter- 
mine values for the various items, on account of 
varying prices and uncertainty of interest rate 
for the future. Although all calculations in for- 
estry must necessarily be approximations, such 
calculations may serve as a guide for a time, to be 
recalculated with change of conditions. 

Where, as in well-established state forest ad- 
ministrations, the question is not one of strict 
financial business, and where absolute forest soils, 
which could not be used for other purposes, are 
involved, the simpler forest rent calculation is 
probably more satisfactory. It is of historical 



FOREST ECONOMY. 217 

interest to state that for nearly forty years a fierce 
literary battle as to the propriety of applying either 
one or the other method has been waged in the 
German forestry literature between the adherents 
of the forest rent and the soil rent theory of finance 
calculation. 

Where, as in the selection forest, the harvest is 
made by selecting trees here and there, as they 
grow to suitable size, instead of determining a rota- 
tion which covers the whole time from the seedling 
to the harvest stage, a calculation may be made 
which determines only the last part of the rotation, 
namely, the time which is required by trees near 
cutting size to grow from one diameter class into 
the next higher, and then choose that diameter 
limit for cutting which appears most profitable 
— the exploitable size. Since this method of 
ascertaining a conservative felling budget is ad- 
vocated and used in the so-called working plans 
prepared by the United States Bureau of Forestry, 
it may be well to elucidate it more fully. It was 
first taught in 1746 by the German forester Oettelt, 
and adopted with various modifications by the French 
Code forestier, and later by the Indian Forest De- 
partment, as paving the way for better methods. 

By a forest survey, the number and contents of 
trees of different diameters near felling size found 
on the average acre is ascertained ; by a series of 
measurements (stem analyses) the rate at which 
one diameter class grows into the next higher is 



2l8 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

determined, and upon this basis a yield table is 
constructed which shows the amount of material 
obtainable from decade to decade according to the 
difference of felling size. That diameter limit 
then is chosen which in the long run appears most 
profitable. 

If, for instance, the actual survey showed of the 
exploitable species an average per acre of — 

28 trees above 10 inches diameter, 
23 trees above 12 inches diameter, 
18 trees above 14 inches diameter, 

and it is ascertained that it requires 12 years for 
an 8-inch tree to grow into the 10-inch diameter class, 
16 years for a 10-inch tree to grow to 12-inch, and 
14 years for a 12-inch tree to grow to 14-inch di- 
ameter, then if a 10-inch standard were adopted 
the present cut would remove the 28 trees above 
10-inch diameter, and no exploitable size will again 
be found before 12 years; while if the 12-inch 
standard were adopted, the return for another har- 
vest based on the same standard could not be 
made before 16 years, and the 14-inch standard 
would permit a return in 14 years. These data 
would then permit a tolerably accurate finance 
calculation, to determine which the profitable size 
in the long run would be. This calculation the 
Bureau of Forestry does not make, but instead 
ascertains and compares merely volume produc- 
tion by constructing a yield table. 

In a given case the yield table approximately 



FOREST ECONOMY. 



219 



corresponding to the above enumeration shows as 
follows (rounded off) : — 





Diameter limit to 


Actual stock 


Amount of cut obtainable after 


which cut is made. 


on hand, 


10 | 20 30 | 40 | 50 years. 


Inches. 


M ft. B.M. 


M ft. B.M. 


10 


4.6 


.40 


I.04 


2 


3.22 


4.85 


12 


4- 


.44 


I.24 


2.48 


4.14 




H 


3- 


.76 


I.84 


3-32 









This table shows that, while the cut to 10-inch 

yields of course a larger harvest, the same harvest 

in amount can then only be again had in about 50 

years; while the harvest is replaced in less than 

30 years if the cut is made to 14-inch, and the 

average annual production is then largest, namely, 

3.32 

-— =110 feet B.M. per year. 

The report of the bureau nevertheless chooses 
the 12-inch limit because "the present yield to a 
14-inch limit is not large enough to justify the 
construction of logging roads, the building of camps, 
and other expenses necessary for lumbering." 

In other words, these calculations serve only as 
a general guide to direct the judgment. And es- 
pecially with this method caution is necessary, as 
it is based upon the assumption, probably not often 
correct, that reproduction will take place, and that 
younger age classes in sufficient number and amount 
are in existence to take the place of the older ; 



220 



ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



when, as is often the case in the virgin uncut woods, 
most of the trees are of exploitable size, this as- 
sumption and with it the method of regulating the 
budget fails entirely. 

An improvement of the method and a closer 
approach to true finance calculation could be made 
by basing the exploitable size on the highest net 
value per unit of volume in connection with the 
time it takes to replace it. In this connection it 
must be understood that, although one and the 
same stumpage price 1 per thousand feet board 
measure is paid for all sizes, the price per unit of 
volume as it grows in the tree is by no means the 
same, for the board foot measure as applied to 
round logs is not a unit of volume in the same 
sense as the cubic foot, a deduction variable ac- 
cording to log size being made from the true vol- 
ume to allow for loss in sawing. 

The following table based on one of the accepted 
rules of measurement Doyle's) will elucidate this: — 



Diam. of log 
(length 10 feet). 


Real Contents. 
x 10 


Contents in 
lumber at mill. 


Stumpage value of 
forest grown material 
per cubic foot if price 
per M ft. =$5.00. 


Inch. 
IO 

14 
18 

24 
30 


Cubic feet. 

65 
127 

211 

376 
588 


Feet B.M. 

23 

62 

122 

250 
422 


Cents. 

1.8 
2.4 
2.9 

3-3 
3.6 



1 Stumpage is the amount of exploitable material; stumpage price is 
the price paid for the wood leave, or the wood as it stands in the forest. 



FOREST ECONOMY. 221 

The value of the unit volume increases, there- 
fore, with the size of a log, yet in a decreasing 
ratio ; if, now, the time required to produce the 
cubic foot is put in relation, a nearer approach to 
the profitable exploitable size may be made. 

A- further improvement, designed to secure more 
surely a sustained yield, requires that the number 
of trees (at least the dominant) of different diam- 
eter classes which are present be ascertained, and 
the number which should normally exist be deter- 
mined, when, if necessary, enough trees of the 
higher or lower diameter class can be left, or else 
the excess be removed, to bring the number to 
standard. 

Whatever method of budget regulation is adopted, 
it must never be forgotten that the approach to 
normality can only be gradual, and can be secured 
in shorter or longer time, depending on the owner's 
interests ; in other words, while the regulation of a 
budget is primarily based on mathematical measure- 
ments of accretion, yield, and values, in practical 
application it must be modified by judgment, which 
makes allowance for changing conditions; for forest 
regulation only points the way, sets up an ideal 
which in practice we may never approach closely ; 
it gives us merely a standard, a measure, a check 
upon our business. It may even be to the best 
interest of the owner to defer entirely the attempt 
at a sustained yield management, leaving it to a 
more favorable future to regulate the budget accord- 



222 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

ing to its requirement. Finally, silviculture, re- 
placement of the crop, is the much more impor- 
tant obligation, assuring continuity of crops, and 
this can in many cases be practised without the 
elaborate organization of the ideal business con- 
duct. 

Of as much and even more moment than the 
budget regulation for the orderly conduct of the 
business is the organization of the property into 
units of management, forest districting. This will 
be more or less elaborate according to the intensity 
of the management. 

In Germany, a manager's district, which may 
comprise from 5000 to 25,000 acres, is divided into 
compartments of 50 to 100 acres, and sometimes 
more in each, which form the units of management, 
being numbered consecutively, and sometimes 
named. In the level country it is usual to locate 
these compartments, not only on the map, but in 
the field, by dividing the property into rectangular 
blocks separated from each other by openings 
(rides) running north and south, east and west, so 
that on the map the subdivision looks like an 
American city street system. 1 In the mountainous 
country the subdivision is an irregular one, the 
division lines following the contours of the slopes, 
valleys, and roads, and usually the division lines 
are not opened. 

1 The rides are used for roads and serve in the pineries also as 
fire guards. 



FOREST ECONOMY. 223 

This merely geometric subdivision serves the pur- 
pose of easy orientation ; it enables the forest reg- 
ulator in his working plan to properly ascertain and 
describe the stock, and to plan the treatment of each 
compartment, and it enables the manager readily to 
locate and apply the prescriptions of the working 
plan. A number of these units may then again 
be combined into subdistricts or ranges for pur- 
poses of administration, fire patrol, etc., while all 
those which are to be managed under one silvi- 
cultural system are, at least in the working plan, 
segregated as working blocks or working sections, 
from those to be managed under another silvi- 
cultural system (coppice or timber forest, etc.), or 
under another rotation. 

These various subdivisions are all noted on maps, 
as is also, by colors, shadings, and signs, such de- 
scriptive matter as is desirable to present a clear, 
comprehensive picture of the actual forest condi- 
tions, and to indicate the changes which are to be 
attempted. 

One of the important prescriptions in the work- 
ing plan, especially wherever clear cutting systems 
are to be applied, or where species liable to wind- 
fall are involved, is the establishment of a proper 
sequence or collocation of felling areas — felling 
series {Hiebsfolge\ (See p. 186.) 

Since danger from fire threatens the young crop 
more than old timber, especially in pineries, it is 
desirable to decrease the risk by making the fell- 



224 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

ing areas small and so distributing them that they 
are interrupted by old timber ; the same risk exists 
with regard to insect damage, and the same plan — 
disruption of the age classes — reduces that danger. 
Again, older timber grown up in the close company 
of a dense stand is wind-firm, and resists both wind- 
falls (uprooting) and wind breakages (breaking of 
stems), but when, by felling operations, portions 
of the interior are opened up and exposed to the 
force of winds, the trees are liable to be thrown, 
especially if of shallow-rooted species, or on shal- 
low soils. To avoid this damage it is desirable, 
not only to make the felling areas narrow, so 
that the wind has less force, but to locate the fell- 
ings with regard to the prevailing winds (mostly 
westerly), so that the older age classes lie in 
the lee, the younger to the windward, the roof 
of the forest or the felling series ideally rising 
from west to east, the fellings progressing from 
east to west. 

Where it becomes necessary to cut on the wind- 
ward side, opening up timber unaccustomed to 
wind exposure, a wind mantle is left on the wind- 
ward side, which is also a commendable prescription 
for small wood lots of farmers, to keep the drying 
winds out. Or else, in due time, ten to twenty 
years before the necessity for harvesting timber 
so located, a severance felling is made, a small 
opening which will induce the formation of a 
wind-firm mantle. 



FOREST ECONOMY. 225 

While these considerations of future danger 
make a distribution of felling areas desirable, 
present considerations of logging expenses dictate 
consolidation of felling areas, for the concentrated 
logging can be done more cheaply than the dis- 
tributed logging, since temporary means of trans- 
portation may answer the first plan, while per- 
manent roadways become necessary in the latter 
plan. 

Here, again, we see that the forest regulator is 
constantly called upon to compromise between the 
exigencies of the present and the benefits for the 
future ; he must weigh the desirability and the finan- 
cial ability of present investment or present loss 
for the sake of future gain. The general working 
plan, then, — the result of the investigations of the 
forest regulator, — is more than a mere budget 
regulation ; it furnishes the broad basis, the prin- 
ciples and policies, for the entire management in 
all directions for a long time to come, taking into 
consideration present as well as future contin- 
gencies, and serving as a guide to the manager. 

Since, during the long time which such a plan 
contemplates, all sorts of changes, unforeseen and 
uncontrollable, take place, changes in economic 
conditions and changes in forest conditions as well 
as growth in experience, it is useless to make detail 
prescriptions beyond a short period, leaving to the 
future a readjustment and revision of the working 
plan and the formulation of new policies. 
Q 



226 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

The detail prescriptions for the first decade or so 
are laid down in a periodic working plan, based upon 
the general working plan, in which the areas to be 
cut, and to be replanted, and the improvements to be 
made, are specifically designated. For the felling 
plan the areas that must first be cut are designated, 
namely the old and decrepit stands which are 
deteriorating, — a dead capital not growing in 
value, — and all the open stands which do not 
utilize the soil to full satisfaction ; next are chosen 
such parcels as need to be cut to secure a desir- 
able felling series in the future; and if more is 
needed to fill the required felling budget, areas 
near the desired, normal felling age are added. 

Where practicable, the areas are prescribed in 
which thinnings are to be made for the improve- 
ment of the crop, and an estimate made of the 
probable amount secured by such thinnings, which 
is added to the main felling budget. Whatever 
planting operations may become desirable are 
detailed in a special planting plan. 

For the administration of a large and complex 
forest management, a thorough organization and 
bookkeeping are of course essential. These offer 
no especial peculiarities that need here be dis- 
cussed, except to state that besides the financial 
bookkeeping and the cost-keeping accounts, it is 
necessary to keep account of the results of the 
operations upon the forest conditions. For this 
purpose a ledger account is opened for each com- 



FOREST ECONOMY. 227 

partment, in which the changes are noted to fur- 
nish a basis for the revision of plans for the 
future. 

It will have become clear that the business 
conduct of a forest management is, as every other 
business, influenced by the economic conditions, 
general and local, surrounding it. Much that is 
possible under the settled conditions of such coun- 
tries as Germany and France will not be practicable 
under our conditions, until they have become more 
fixed and stable. 

But the technical art — silviculture — which is 
the more important since it furnishes the basis 
for any kind of forest management, being based 
mainly on natural laws, is applicable everywhere, 
just as in Germany or France, where its methods 
have been developed and practised for centuries. 



CHAPTER IX. 
PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 

The expositions of the preceding chapters will 
have made it clear that the forest cover is of more 
importance to the household of a nation than many 
other of its resources, that it bears a peculiar 
relation to national prosperity, and also that its 
management for continuity offers various unique 
and peculiar aspects, which call for special active 
interest by the community at large and by its rep- 
resentative, the state. 

Briefly summarizing the arguments for such 
special interest and exercise of governmental 
activity, we recall that the forest is a natural re- 
source which answers simultaneously three pur- 
poses of civilized society : it furnishes directly 
materials used in very large quantities and almost 
as needful as food ; it forms a soil cover which 
influences, directly and indirectly, under its own 
cover and at a distance, conditions of waterflow, 
of soil, and of local climate ; it has, in addition, an 
aesthetic value, furnishing pleasure and recreation 
and benefiting health. 

The exploitation of this resource for private 

228 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 229 

gain is apt to lead to its deterioration or eventual 
destruction, especially in a country where popu- 
lation is relatively small and unevenly distributed, 
when only the best kinds and the best cuts can be 
profitably marketed. Hence, since profit is the 
object of private enterprise, exploitation must under 
such conditions be by necessity wasteful. By the 
removal of the useful kinds and of the desirable 
individuals, leaving the ground to be occupied by 
tree weeds and runts, the reproduction of the 
desirable and useful is prevented, and since the 
forest by changing its composition and quality is 
deteriorated in value, the future is injured as far 
as material interests are concerned. 

Since, with the removal of the marketable 
timber, the interest of the individual in the forest is 
gone, it is naturally neglected, and conflagrations 
which follow the wasteful exploitation, with the 
accumulated debris left in the woods, kill or 
damage, not only the remaining old timber, but 
more especially all the young growth. Even the 
soil itself, often formed only by the mould from 
the decay of leaves and litter accumulated through 
centuries, is destroyed, and thus, not only the prac- 
ticability, but the possibility, of restoration is frus- 
trated. In many localities the consequences of 
such destruction are felt in deterioration of climatic 
conditions, and in uneven waterflow, floods and 
droughts being exaggerated ; in this way damage 
is inflicted on portions of the community far 



230 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

removed from its cause and unable to protect 
themselves. The private individual can hardly be 
expected to appreciate these distant interests of 
his own motion in the management of his forest 
property, hence the state must guard them. 

To insure a conservative treatment and conti- 
nuity of the resource, — a sustained yield manage- 
ment, — it is necessary to curtail present revenue 
or to make present expenditures for the sake of a 
distant future, since the crop takes many decades 
to mature. This time element is the peculiar 
feature in forest management which renders the 
use of the soil for such production undesirable for 
private enterprise concerned in immediate results. 
The fact that the capital invested in the soil and in 
the gradually accumulating wood growth must be 
tied up for many decades, and exposed to many 
dangers, before the harvest returns interest, and 
that hence finance calculations and financial trans- 
actions with such kind of property become com- 
plicated, renders the safety of this resource in 
private hands doubtful, and points to the desira- 
bility of permanent, stable, long-lived ownership. 

The desire to get the largest present profit from 
his labor, which is the only incentive of private 
enterprise, will be also a constant incentive to cur- 
tail the wood capital necessary for a sustained 
yield management, and to let the future take care 
of itself. 

The interest in the future lies with the state ; the 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. „ 231 

state must interfere, therefore, wherever the inter- 
ests of the future clearly demand it. 

What form shall this interference take ? What 
shall be the policy of the state in regard to the 
forest resources ? 

The answer will vary according to our concep- 
tions of government functions, according to prac- 
tical considerations of expediency, and according 
to the character and location of the forest areas. 

In the first chapter we have endeavored to 
develop a conception of governmental functions 
based upon the logical proposition that the state is 
to protect the broad interests of the many, the 
community, against the inconsiderate use of prop- 
erty by the few ; and we laid special stress upon the 
necessity of including the interests of the future 
community in this consideration, calling for the 
exercise of providential functions on the part of 
the state. 

While in principle this position may be regarded 
as a self-evident logical sequence of the state idea 
everywhere in application under differently devel- 
oped conditions of government, the manner and 
extent of exercising its functions will, of course, 
vary. In the densely populated monarchical coun- 
tries of Europe, with relatively scanty resources, a 
much more direct and strict interference is called 
for than in a country which has still plenty of 
elbow room, with plenty of resources ; here it may 
be expedient to leave adjustment to future con- 



232 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

sideration and action, there expediency calls for 
prompt and vigorous assertion of state rights and 
obligations. 

How inconsistently in actual practice the princi- 
ples of state function may be applied can nowhere 
be studied better than in the United States. While, 
as a principle, we are inclined to demand restric- 
tion of state interference and insisting upon per- 
sonal liberty to circumscribe and minimize in many 
directions the sphere of governmental action and 
authority, we actually find paternalism rampant, 
almost to the verge of despotism, in other direc- 
tions, as in the liquor laws and oleomargarine 
laws, offering restrictions which no European would 
tolerate. Surely expediency has here dictated 
almost the annihilation of principle. We can, 
therefore, not expect to have the policies which 
satisfy one country, although based on sound prin- 
ciples, transferred and applied in the same way in 
another country. 

It may be conceded that the truly socialistic con- 
ceptions (much ventilated in forestry literature), 
which consider it a duty of the state to take care 
that the materials necessary or desirable for the 
comfortable existence of its society be produced in 
sufficient quantity and economically, are either anti- 
quated and buried with the rest of physiocratic 
teachings, or are not yet accepted as true democratic 
doctrine. In mercantile pursuits, generally speak- 
ing, individual effort and responsibility are certainly 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 233 

preferable to government action and authority, 
which must often be arbitrary, indirect, uneconom- 
ical, and ineffective. Hence, as far as forest areas 
serve only the one object of furnishing supplies, 
and form the basis of industrial activity, we may, 
for a time at least, allow our general modern in- 
dustrial policy of non-interference to prevail, which 
is based upon the theory, only partially true, that 
self-interest will secure the best use of the means 
of production. 

There is, however, one great generic difference 
between the forestry business and all other produc- 
tive industries, which places it after all on a dif- 
erent footing as far as state interest is concerned ; 
it is the time element, which we have again and 
again accentuated, and which brings with it conse- 
quences not experienced in any other business. 

The result of private activity which is supposed 
to come from self-interest is closely connected with 
the working of the well-known economic law of 
supply and demand which regulates the effort of the 
producer. This law and the self-interest can be 
trusted to bring about in most cases a proper balance 
rapidly, but in the forestry business this balance 
works sluggishly; before a shortage in supplies 
is discovered and appreciated, stimulating to pro- 
ductive effort, years will have elapsed, years which 
are needed to prepare for a supply to become avail- 
able in a distant future. How difficult it is to get 
conditions of forest supplies recognized and appre- 



234 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

ciated, we have experienced in regard to our white 
pine supply. It has taken twenty years to force 
this realization upon the producers, in spite of the 
fact that the federal government made a creditable 
effort to ascertain and publish the facts. And even 
now, when there is no more doubt of the fact that 
these most important supplies are bound to be 
practically exhausted in a short time, there is no 
very extensive self-interest aroused to adjust the 
balance of supply and demand, and to anticipate 
the shortage, simply because self-interest works 
only for the present and does not concern itself 
with a distant future. 

We must, then, admit that, even with regard to 
supply forests, the position of the state may be 
properly a different one from that which it would 
be proper and expedient to take toward other 
industrial activities. 

When, in addition to the mere material function, 
the immaterial benefits of a forest cover enter into 
the question or become paramount, there can be 
no doubt that both principle and expediency call 
for timely exercise of state activity. The so-called 
protection forests, therefore, which by virtue of 
their location on steep mountain slopes or on 
sand dunes, or wherever their influence on soil 
conditions, waterflow, and climatic factors can 
be shown to be superior to their material value, 
must claim a more intimate and direct atten- 
tion by the state; for here protection of present 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 235 

interests, as well as of future well-being, demand 
the application of the old Roman law: Utere tuo 
ne alterum noceas ; here the police power of the 
state is invoked, extended according to our wider 
horizon and fuller conception of the need and 
direction to which the protective function of the 
state is required, as developed in the first chapter. 
In the exercise of this protective function, the state 
performs merely the primary logical duty of its 
existence, namely, securing for each of its members 
the maximum opportunity to do for himself, pre- 
venting interference, direct or indirect, by others ; 
it is not doing for the individual what he could 
have done for himself, and it is not liable to the 
charge of paternalism. 

In practical application of this principle, the 
question must, to be sure, be settled either in 
general or in each case, as to whether injury is 
being done or is to be anticipated by the unre- 
stricted use of the property, and what form the 
interference by the state is to take. 

There are three generically different ways in 
which the state can assert its authority and carry 
out its obligations in protecting the interests of 
the community at large and of the future against 
the ill-advised use of property by private owners : 
namely by persuasive, ameliorative, or promotive 
measures, exercising mainly its educational func- 
tions; by restrictive measures or indirect control, 
exercising police functions ; and by direct con- 



236 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

trol, i.e. ownership and management by its own 
agents. 

Basing our conception of state function on the 
fundamental postulates, that the state has pri- 
marily the object to increase the freedom of the 
individual in personal and economic relations, and 
to promote the possibilities of individual effort ; 
that the sphere of governmental action and author- 
ity in circumscribing individual action and respon- 
sibility should be minimized to absolute necessity ; 
and that the state should undertake to do only 
whatever by its character it is better fitted to do 
for the community than the individual members 
can do for it, — our choice of method will be in the 
order named. 

As a general principle, only when persuasive and 
promotive measures fail or are insufficient, recourse 
is to be had to restrictive measures ; only when 
even these are inefficient or inexpedient is the 
state to own and manage properties. 

In the first category we have to discuss educa- 
tional measures, taxation and tariff duties, bounties, 
and other aids in promotion of private industry. 

The educational function of the state is now 
recognized as one of the most prominent and bene- 
ficial in all civilized nations, although the degree 
and generality of its application still vary. In the 
United States we rely, as regards the higher and 
professional education, still largely on private 
charity and effort, with results comparatively satis- 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 237 

factory, yet by no means as efficient, as state in- 
stitutions could make them. If, as is the case 
with some of our western state universities, the 
state provides the means of supporting the insti- 
tution by a certain proportion of the tax rate in- 
dependent of political changes, the institution is 
relieved of the necessity of keeping up the compe- 
tition for favor, which disadvantageously besets 
most of our private institutions of learning, and is 
destructive to the competition for scholarship and 
true scientific efficiency. 

A state institution, thus well endowed and inde- 
pendent of numbers and of undesirable rivalry, 
can at least promote efficiency with a freer hand. 
Charity is generally conceded to be undesirable 
where it can be avoided, and in educational matters 
the interest of the community ought to be sufficiently 
well recognized to repudiate support by charity. 

In the old countries the educational function of 
the state is so well established as to have almost 
eradicated private schools, except in certain special- 
ties and primary institutions. 

The forestry schools of Germany, all of which are 
now state institutions, originated, however, in private 
undertakings, the so-called "master schools," when 
a practitioner assembled around him young men 
and taught them all he knew. Such schools arose 
in large numbers during the last half of the eigh- 
teenth century, — the first in 1763 in the Harz 
Mountains, — but were usually of short duration, 



238 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

the change to well-organized state institutions 
taking place in the first decades of the nineteenth 
century. In the United States the state of New 
York was the first to recognize its obligation in 
this direction by instituting a College of Forestry 
in 1898, administered by Cornell University, a 
private institution. Almost simultaneously a 
" master school " was instituted on the Vander- 
bilt estate at Biltmore, N. C, and by private en- 
dowment a third school arose in connection with 
Yale University, while a number of other institu- 
tions attempt, at least, to keep abreast with the 
times by representing the subject in some fashion 
in their curricula. 

We believe that finally, in each of the forested 
states, it will be considered a part of proper forest 
policy for some public institution of learning to 
furnish instruction in forestry. This does not nec- 
essarily mean university or higher professional 
education ; there is as much need for the lower 
grade education, of underforesters, logging bosses, 
etc., such as Berea College, Kentucky, has so 
auspiciously inaugurated. 

The only danger is, that multiplication in num- 
ber rather than increase in efficiency of a few such 
institutions will be the rule of the day, when the 
fever sets in. 

In the European forestry literature a lively dis- 
cussion has continued for years as to whether the 
higher education in forestry should be given at 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 239 

separate special academies or forestry schools, or 
whether these should be connected with universi- 
ties. There are advantages and disadvantages in 
either arrangement ; but the better facilities which 
can be had at a university, with its concentrated 
intellectual and laboratory apparatus, give the 
preference to the latter. 

In the United States propagandists have been 
loud in advocating the introduction of the subject 
into the primary public schools. While it is de- 
sirable that our young citizens should become 
acquainted in a general way with all the varied in- 
terests of the world, and should have some general 
intelligence regarding them, such as well-educated 
teachers can impart incidentally in reading lessons 
and otherwise, it would, indeed, be mistaking the 
object of primary education to introduce any 
special systematic teaching of professions or prac- 
tical arts. Expediency, if not principle, forbids it, 
for with equal rights every other branch of eco- 
nomics and every professional art might claim 
recognition. 

Besides the establishment of schools, there are 
other means open for the state to exercise its edu- 
cational functions. The endowment of scholar- 
ships, especially travelling scholarships, has been 
of greatest value in increasing capacity and intel- 
ligence for promoting communal interests. As 
long as the practice of forestry does not exist, or 
is poorly developed in the United States, it is 



240 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

desirable to give opportunity to competent stu- 
dents for observing its practice where it is well 
developed. A year's, or even a half-year's, travel 
through the well-managed forest districts of Ger- 
many or France gives more insight into the 
possibilities, advantages, and methods of forest 
management than a lifetime spent in wrestling 
with the problems without having seen a practi- 
cal solution elsewhere. 

Next, no more efficient means of education in prac- 
tical arts which, like forestry and agriculture, rely 
still largely on empirics can be devised than the 
establishment of experiment stations. Experiments 
always imply the expenditure of means and energy 
for an uncertain result, by which, to be sure, the 
experimenter may profit, but, unless the experi- 
ment is carried on in the quiet of a laboratory, he 
is not alone benefited ; the observer, who does not 
share in the expense, shares in the benefit. Hence, 
while the principle of self-interest will lead to ex- 
perimentation, expediency makes it desirable, in 
some directions at least, to broaden the field of 
experimentation, and to make the results fairly 
and openly accessible to the whole community. 
This is especially so where the use of a limited 
resource, like the soil, to its greatest efficiency, is 
of benefit to the whole of society. 

If, as has been practically conceded, experimen- 
tation in agricultural lines is best done by state 
institutions, this is still more true in forestry lines, 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 241 

on account of the time element involved in most 
forestry experiments. In agriculture the answer 
to an inquiry may be often secured in inexpensive 
ways, and may be given in one season ; while in 
forestry, years of patient waiting and observation, 
wholesale methods or measurements, large areas, 
and a large number of cases, are required to 
permit generalization. In both directions the 
activity of the private investigator is at a disad- 
vantage. To conduct investigations that must be 
continued for decades, and in a large way, a sys- 
tematic plan and organization is needed, such as 
only a public institution usually has at command. 
Moreover, comparability of results can be secured 
only when uniformity of method has been assured, 
and this again is more likely secured by coopera- 
tion between state institutions, or even by the char- 
acter and organization of a single state institution. 
The advantage of connecting such experiment 
stations with institutions of learning needs hardly 
any argument ; the mutual increase of educational 
facilities and opportunities is patent. These edu- 
cational means can, of course, be extended by 
proper methods of publication of results, by or- 
ganization of meetings for their discussion, by 
so-called university extension, and finally, by the 
promotion of associations which have for their 
object the increase of application of knowledge in 
the actual forestry practice. Such associations 
give opportunity of impressing and driving home 



242 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

what is desirable in practice, and also of finding 
out what are the needs of the private owner, and 
what the state should do to further his interests. 
The state of Minnesota has, for more than a 
quarter of a century, supported the efforts of such 
an association with considerable satisfaction by 
yearly appropriations. The countenancing of such 
private endeavor in educational directions is cer- 
tainly good state policy. 

A more direct and far-reaching influence upon 
private activity, still of an educational character, 
is properly exercised by the state in securing and 
publishing statistical information. Statistics, intel- 
ligently gathered and presented, form the necessary 
basis for a safe judgment of existing conditions and 
past progress of development, and also for forecast- 
ing the future tendencies of development and pos- 
sibly directing its progress; they give clews, and 
are guides, not only for rational legislation, but also 
for rational conduct of private business, While 
self-interest may be quite efficient to ascertain con- 
ditions of supply and demand in daily, weekly, or 
monthly business for the sake of private business 
use, for the sake of the prosperous development 
of the community at large and of giving general 
direction to private endeavor, it is desirable that a 
state institution ascertain periodically the condi- 
tion of a whole industry and its relation to other 
industries. 

Such ascertainment is done with satisfaction 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 243 

only by the machinery of the state, which can 
make inquiries uniform, compel answers, and has 
no special interests to represent which might 
influence the reliability of the statements. In 
forestry statistics especially, the difficulties of as- 
certaining conditions of supply are beyond the 
capacity of individual inquiry, owing to the com- 
plicated nature of the object of inquiry. If there 
is difficulty in determining quantity and value of 
standing merchantable timber, which is within the 
actual vision of the estimater, how much more 
difficulty must be found in judging the prospec- 
tive quantity and value of the un perfected crop, 
the promise of the future; and this is the essen- 
tial knowledge upon which is to be based, private 
as well as state activity with reference to this 
resource. 

We may only briefly indicate what kind of sta- 
tistical knowledge would be desirable in order 
merely to direct public policy. 1 

In the well-ordered state the soils most fit for 
agriculture should be devoted to systematic food 
production, but just so should the non-agricultural 
soils, the absolute forest soils, be devoted to the sys- 
tematic production of wood-crops ; moreover, as we 
have seen, the forest in certain situations exercises 
a potent influence on cultural conditions. Hence 

1 For a fuller discussion see " Considerations in gathering For- 
estry Statistics," by the author, in Quarterly Publications of the 
American Statistical Association, 1898. 



244 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

the knowledge of the extent of forest area of a 
country is by itself meaningless ; the character of 
the soil the forest occupies, its topographical loca- 
tion, and its relation to the hydrography of the 
country, must be known to permit an estimate of 
cultural conditions, to prognosticate likely change 
in area and the desirability of interference in its use. 

To get an idea of the amount and value, present 
and prospective, of the existing resource, there 
must be known the composition, i.e. relative occur- 
rence of merchantable kinds and conditions as to 
density, age, and character of growth, damage by 
fire, etc., and, most difficult of all to ascertain, con- 
ditions and stages of development of the young 
crop. Only forestry experts can so ascertain such 
statistics as to give them value. The other side 
of the question, market conditions and statistics 
of wood-consuming industries, offers some peculi- 
arities, but no difficulties. 

Furthermore, when forest management is once 
established, not only the condition of the resource, 
but the methods of its management, call for sta- 
tistical inquiry. 

In addition to these educational methods which 
incite private activity in the right direction by in- 
direct means, namely, by increase of knowledge, 
there are more direct ameliorative or promotive 
methods to be found in bounties which are given 
to aid private endeavor in the pursuit of private 
industry. 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 245 

These may take the form of assisting by money 
gifts, by furnishing plant material, by giving land 
as in our timber claim planting, by making work- 
ing plans or otherwise specifically assisting in 
private forest management beyond the giving of 
general information, and finally by tax release and 
tariff duties. 

We are approaching in these methods closely to 
paternalism, when the state is doing for the indi- 
vidual what the individual could or should do for 
himself, when the state is doing more than provid- 
ing opportunity for individual activity; at least 
the danger of transcending proper policy and 
abusing public interest is always present with 
these methods. 

It is, therefore, necessary to scrutinize much 
more carefully the conditions under which proper 
policy is subserved by them. Curiously enough, 
these paternal methods have found much more 
favor and are more extensively used in our coun- 
try than in the European countries, which are 
usually charged with the opprobrium of paternal- 
ism ; and in spite of the fact that the results have 
been rather disappointing, the advocates of these 
methods continue successfully to impress their 
opinions upon legislatures. 

The fact that these methods have failed before 
does not, to be sure, argue that with a change in 
conditions and with more circumspect supervision 
they may not be employed with better results, yet 



246 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

the past experiences should serve at least the pur- 
pose of exercising caution in their employment. 

In the years 1868 to 1873 a wave of legislation 
for the encouragement of timber planting, either 
under bounty or with exemption from taxation, went 
through the country from Maine to Nebraska, cul- 
minating in the so-called timber culture acts by 
the federal government in 1 873-1 874. All of these 
laws proved practically ineffective, or at least the 
results were inadequate except in taking money 
out of the treasuries. 

Yet only in 1899 the State of Indiana revived 
the idea in a law " for the encouragement of for- 
estry," with an attempt at specifications which in 
themselves are devoid of tangible principle. This 
law provides that any owner may declare one- 
eighth of his property as a permanent forest res- 
ervation, this portion to be assessed at one dollar 
per acre, provided he either plant and maintain 
for three years, or, if natural woods, have on hand, 
not less than 1 70 trees per acre ; he must keep out 
cattle, sheep, and goats until the trees are four 
inches in diameter ; and whenever any of the 1 70 
trees die or are removed, he must replace and main- 
tain the number and protect them until they are 
four inches in diameter, and he may never cut or 
remove more than one-fifth of the trees in any year. 

A reference to the chapters on " Natural His- 
tory of the Forest " and on " Silviculture " will 
show how futile and inadequate this encourage- 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 247 

ment of forestry must prove to be in a timbered 
state like Indiana. 

In Pennsylvania, according to a legislative act 
of 1897, the owner needs to have only 50 trees to 
the acre, which must, however, measure at least 
8 inches in diameter 6 (!) feet above ground ; as 
long as he keeps these in sound condition, in "con- 
sideration of the public benefit to be derived from 
the retention of forest and timber trees," he is to 
have 80 per cent of the tax on such lands refunded, 
provided that this be not more than 45 cents per 
acre and that no more than 50 acres are entitled to 
such release. From this last restriction one would 
suppose that a larger acreage would not be a pub- 
lic benefit; one fails also to see the rationale of 
the other measurements and numbers required, 
nor is it apparent what benefit to the public any 
50 acres with 50 trees to the acre without special 
reference to its location might bring. 

The timber culture acts of the federal govern- 
ment, which had in view the amelioration of cul- 
tural conditions in the treeless territory of western 
prairies and plains, a very proper concern of gov- 
ernment, conferred title to 160 acres or smaller 
amounts of the public domain, if 40 acres or a 
proportionate smaller acreage was set out to trees. 
The crude provisions of the law and lack of proper 
supervision led to its abuse, and the results have 
been mostly disappointing, leading to the repeal 
of the law in 1891. 



248 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

The federal government also practised the 
method of furnishing plant material; this was 
done, however, with inadequate means and with- 
out proper discrimination. 

The writer himself, when in charge of the For- 
estry Division, United States Department of Agri- 
culture, was enjoined by law to distribute plant 
material, and did so long enough to convince him- 
self that the size of the country and the number 
of people with equal rights to this bounty, as well 
as the practical difficulties in handling such plant 
material, which must necessarily vary in kind 
according to locality, forbid the practice, or, at 
least, do not promise adequate results, except pos- 
sibly in planting a few shade trees. 

Yet, in connection with other methods of state 
action and with proper organization, this method 
has proved satisfactory in the European countries, 
namely, when the state enforces, and, by techni- 
cally educated officials, supervises reforestation of 
alpine locations, barrens, and waste places, and 
when the distribution of plant material is made, 
not to private owners, but to associations and com- 
munities, free, or at cost of production and on an 
adequate scale. It may, of course, under similar 
conditions and with similar judicious supervision, 
but only then, be employed successfully in our 
country. 

Within the last few years the federal govern- 
ment of the United States has inaugurated through 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 249 

the Forestry Bureau of the Department of Agri- 
culture another method of encouragement, which 
is also practised in the old countries, namely, to 
give to private owners specific advice as to the 
management of forest properties, the government 
bearing the larger share of the expense of securing 
the data for these so-called working plans. But 
for the educational feature involved, this would be 
a violation of our principle that the state should 
not do for the private citizen what he could do for 
himself. If, however, the benefit to be expected 
for the community at large is thereby secured, ex- 
pediency would lend countenance to such a method. 
The probability, however, is that in the absence of 
an obligation to follow the working plan, and in 
the absence of technical supervision in its execu- 
tion, the results will be hardly commensurate. 

The one principle under which the community 
can properly be called upon to tax itself — directly 
by paying bounties, or indirectly by refunding or 
reducing taxes and by imposing import duties — in 
order to encourage private industry is that the 
community will thereby secure extraordinary bene- 
fit. But the benefit must be specific, demonstrable, 
adequate, and, moreover, it must be evident that 
mere private self-interest will not be sufficient to 
secure incidentally the desired benefit. 

The power of adjusting taxes is a mighty lever 
to industries, which can be used scientifically or 
unskilfully, for good or for evil ; and those who 



250 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

advocate the use of the taxing power to encourage 
the forestry industry are perfectly justifiable, pro- 
vided it is used in a reasonable way. 

As a matter of fact, taxation of woodlands is 
at least in most forested states of the Union most 
unscientifically applied, and in such a manner as 
to encourage forest destruction and discourage 
forest management. Moreover, the quid pro quo 
for which taxes are primarily exacted, namely, pro- 
tection of the property of individuals, is most 
inadequately performed by the community. 

It is customary to assess forest property by 
including the value of the standing merchantable 
timber; in other, words, not only the apparatus 
of production, but the product itself, the crop, is 
taxed. If the same principle were applied to 
agriculture, if the farmer were not only assessed 
on the value of the land, buildings, and machinery, 
but on the value of the growing crop itself, it 
would certainly appear absurd, and discourage him 
from all efforts to secure the highest values in his 
crops. 

To be sure, as long as the forest crop is a mere 
gift of nature, bought and exploited like a mine, 
the crop idea does not present itself forcibly ; as 
soon, however, as forest management, continued 
systematic forest crop production, is contemplated 
and practised, a more equitable principle of taxa- 
tion must be introduced, namely, the assessment 
of the soil alone, the value being gauged by its 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 25 1 

capacity for producing the lowest value of market- 
able wood. 

But since the harvest cannot be secured annually, 
since it must accumulate for the length of a rota- 
tion before a return for the expenditure of tax and 
otherwise comes to the owner, a compound interest 
calculation on returns as well as on the annual tax 
must be made to come to a rational assessment 
rate. 

An example may make it clear how an equitable 
valuation of a growing forest crop could be made 
without going into much finesse. 

If an acre produce annually at the average rate 
of one-half a cord of salable wood, and it takes 30 
years before the crop is ripe for harvest, and the 
1 5 cords then harvested brought a stumpage value 
or wood leave of 20 cents per cord or $3.00 per acre, 
the soil rent upon which the assessment should be 
established would figure, according to well-known 
interest calculation (if a 5 per cent interest rate 
be acceptable for such investment, which would 
be fair for the present time in many places), as 

7 x .OK 

3^ = 4^ cents, and the value of the soil as 



i.o5 w — 1 

wood producer under the conditions named would 

1 4-5 

be —=- = 90 cents per acre. 

And if, as is usual with real property, only 60 
per cent of the value is taxed, the taxable value of 
such an acre would be 54 cents. This would be 



252 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

fair if the county or state did its part of the con- 
tract, namely, furnished adequate protection against 
fire risk. This calculation leaves out any allowance 
for cost of protection and administration, and, on 
the other hand, also of the possibility of harvesting 
higher-priced materials. Since it is usual to tax 
the " wrecking value " rather than the true value, 
it would probably be fair to assess upon the assump- 
tion of this lowest value production or even still 
further reduce the assessment to allow for risk and 
cost of protection. 

How do we find forest property actually taxed ? 
For an example we may cite a definite case 
from Wisconsin, a state where values are naturally 
still unsettled, but stumpage is probably lower than 
that assumed above. Here, for an aggregate of 
tracts of hardwood lands from which the valuable 
pine has been removed, the taxes for a number of 
years have varied from 3 cents to 40 cents per 
acre a year without any reference to changes in 
condition or value, and have averaged about 10 
cents per acre, that is to say, 20 to 30 per cent of 
what probably is the year's production must be 
paid to the tax gatherer. On a virgin growth, 
with the pine left, the taxes were never below 
50 cents. It is safe to say that no other property 
is so heavily taxed. It is a premium on deforesta- 
tion, after which the land, worth $6 to $7 per acre 
for agricultural purposes, will be more reasonably 
treated. And these examples of irrational taxa- 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 253 

tion can be multiplied from every part of the 
Union. No wonder that lumbermen argue the 
necessity of escaping as quickly as possible from 
this extortion, and are discouraged from consider- 
ing the advisability of adopting forestry practice, 
which even under more rational methods of taxa- 
tion offers as yet only doubtful inducements. 

Just as the direct tax can be regulated to en- 
courage or deter private enterprise, so tariff legis- 
lation, as is well known, has had the protective 
feature added to its- fiscal objects. 

Import duties have been designed to reduce or 
deter the importation of wood materials and to en- 
courage home industry by this artificial raising of 
prices, as in the United States and in Germany, 
and export duties have been placed, as in Canada, 
on raw forest products in retaliation or to prevent 
reduction of raw materials and to insure their pres- 
ervation for use in home industry. In both cases 
the argument has been brought forward that such 
duties encouraged the practice of forestry. 

Theoretically, plausible reasons may be adduced 
for such an expectation ; practically, no such results 
can be noted. An increase in the price of wood 
materials simply stimulates the forest exploiter to in- 
creased effort in reaping the benefit while it lasts ; 
he pockets the difference, and the increased mar- 
gin only reduces the necessity of applying more 
economical methods of utilization until home com- 
petition, induced by the increase of price, counter- 



254 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

balances the benefit; and even then the effect is 
rather to greater wastefulness in the exploitation, 
to forest destruction, or increase of effectiveness in 
the existing wood-working business, than to the 
establishing of a new industry, the forestry busi- 
ness. A duty which prohibits or essentially cur- 
tails importations, the demand remaining the same, 
can only tend to increase the cut, and more rapid 
decimation of our own resource. 

In other words, the encouragement is toward 
greater consumption of existing forest products as 
far as the exploiter can bring it about, rather than 
toward efforts at their renewal. 

The reason is clear, if we recall our discussions 
on the nature of forest growth and on the nature 
of the forestry business. 

The larger part of the harvest of a nature-grown 
wild woods is inferior material, which is either 
unsalable or unprofitable to handle. If the tariff, 
therefore, stimulates wood consumption, or by the 
exclusion of foreign-grown material necessitates a 
larger output from the native woods, this waste 
by necessity must be also increased. A rational 
tariff, which had in view the benefit and conserva- 
tion of the natural forest resource, would put a 
premium on the importation of the better grades, 
and would absolutely prohibit the importation of 
the poorer grades, when the disparity of poor and 
good grades in the home exploitation might be 
somewhat alleviated, a closer utilization made 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 255 

possible, and at least conservative lumbering would 
appear more profitable. 

Export duties, if placed high enough to prevent 
practical exportation, would appear a more rea- 
sonable method of influencing exploitation; but 
when we consider that, for instance in the United 
States, the value of forest products exported hardly 
exceeds 5 per cent of the value represented in 
home consumption, and is counterbalanced to at 
least one-half more by importations, it would appear 
that the influence of an export duty, at least for 
this country, could hardly have any appreciable 
effect in establishing forestry practice. 

But all such devices influence only the present 
or short future, while the interests of the forestry 
business are in a distant future. We must never 
forget that financially forestry means foregoing 
present revenue, or making present expenditures 
for the sake of future revenue. 

To induce private owners to begin such a con- 
servative policy is hardly to be attained by tariff 
legislation, unless a definite obligation is laid upon 
them to spend a part of the increased earning in 
that direction. 

The case is entirely different when a systematic 
forestry business is actually established and in 
competition with importations from a country 
where crude exploitation of virgin forests is still 
practised, which threatens to make the home enter- 
prise unprofitable. 



256 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

While in general mercantile business it may then 
be argued that the unprofitable business had best 
be abandoned, the forestry business, as we have 
seen, occupies an exceptional position, both in the 
time element required to secure working capital of 
standing timber and establish the systematic in- 
dustry, and in its general cultural significance, so 
that, aside from mercantile considerations, inter- 
ference from outside competition is harmful to 
national prosperity. 

Such is the case in European countries with well- 
established forestry systems, when brought into 
competition with countries which are still mainly 
exploiting natural resources. 

Yet a prominent writer on the subject of import 
duties on wood 1 discusses the influence of such on 
German forestry as follows : — 

" The question as to whether high prices, espe- 
cially as a result of tariff, encourage to reforestation 
and forestry practice or to forest devastation, is for 
Germany, according to the latest statistics, of no 
import. Deforestations on a large scale and ex- 
cessive overcutting without reference to the future 
are here neither induced by high prices nor pre- 
vented by low prices, but are the regular concom- 
itant of general economic crises and unsound 
speculation periods." 

The motives for tariff legislation in the old 
countries were at first fiscal ones, then fear of a 

1 Schwappach, " Forstpolitik," 1894, p. 161. 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 257 

timber famine (intelligible by the absence of means 
of transportation), resulting in export tariffs as 
early as the sixteenth and continued through the 
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. To this mo- 
tive was then added the mercantilistic one of desir- 
ing to produce everything in the home country, 
thus giving rise to protective import duties. Fi- 
nally, the liberation from these economic fallacies, or 
perhaps, I should say, the changes in commercial 
economic conditions, and especially the influence 
of railroad building since i860, led, for Germany 
at least, to a total abolishment of all duties in 1865. 
Now, however, Germany as well as almost all 
European countries, those which export a surplus 
as well as the importing ones, have protective im- 
port tariffs, the object being, as aforesaid, to foster 
the well-established forestry business and to pro- 
tect it against competition from virgin sources. 

In Germany this protective legislation was 
enacted in 1879, when the opening up of the vir- 
gin woods of eastern Austro- Hungary, which are 
simply exploited, not managed, had brought de- 
structive competition to the forest administrations. 

The specific duties amounted then to about 3 
per cent on the value of unmanufactured logs and 
timber, and 4 per cent on manufactured lumber, — 
.60 and 1.50 mk. respectively per cubic metre (70 
cents per 1000 feet B.M.), — with the result of re- 
ducing importations, of the latter at least, by 40 per 
cent; but the railroads equalized the difference, 



258 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

and in 1885 an increase in duties of 6 percent and 
12 percent respectively was inaugurated, which, in 
1892, was again modified and reduced by special 
treaties. 

In the United States and countries similarly 
situated the problem is quite a different one. 
Forest management is not in existence. Our only 
competitor on the lumber market is Canada. In 
both countries the virgin forest is simply exploited ; 
the protection afforded by a tariff would, therefore, 
not be of that general economic import. A duty 
which prohibits or essentially curtails importations, 
the demand remaining the same, can, as has been 
said, only tend to increase the cut and more rapid 
decimation of our own resource. A duty which 
does not prohibit or curtail essentially importations 
is not likely to benefit the forest, but only to reduce 
the profit of the Canadian lumberman, and possibly 
to put a part of the difference into the pocket of 
his American competitor. 

The one promotive action of the state, which is 
preeminently required to establish a proper forest 
policy, the propriety of which cannot be questioned 
for a moment, and which arises from the primary 
function of the state, its police function, is to afford 
protection to forest property, at least equal to that 
afforded to any other property and adequate to the 
peculiarities and needs of such forest property. 

Such protection is the unquestioned right of the 
forest owner, and without it he cannot be expected 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 259 

to maintain a " sustained yield " management which 
requires maintenance of a large wood capital sub- 
ject to depredations and to destruction by fires 
unless properly guarded. 

Forestry as a business is practicable, nay, think- 
able, only under the assumption of civilized, stable 
conditions, and the first requisite of civilization is 
reasonable safety of property. 

There are, to be sure, especially in only partly 
developed countries or sections of country, special 
difficulties in enforcing laws and preventing crime ; 
nevertheless, the obligation of the state is to make 
an adequate effort. 

It is not sufficient for the state to legislate, but, 
at least wherever broad communal interests are at 
stake, it must provide the machinery to carry out 
this legislation. The impotency of the laws de- 
signed to prevent forest fires is too well known 
to need comment. In this respect, in police organ- 
ization and the proper means of executing the laws 
and of preventing damage, even the states which 
have attempted to remedy the evil of forest fires are 
wofully backward. We can learn from Canada 
and from the British India forest department, how 
a large amount of this damage can be prevented, 
even in countries which as yet lack a systematic, 
thoroughly established forestry system. Such pro- 
tection is a conditio sine qua non y the first step 
to a state forest policy, and the beginning of for- 
estry practice. 



260 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Our present conditions in that respect discour- 
age, and rightly so, all efforts to provide for future 
crops, and encourage rapid exploitation in order to 
secure the value of the existing crop before the fire 
has swept it away. 

The principles most needful to keep in view 
when formulating legislation for protection against 
forest fires * are : — 

(i) A well-organized machinery for the enforce- 
ment of the laws must be provided, in which the 
state must be prominently represented, since the 
damage done by forest fires extends in many cases 
far beyond immediate private and personal loss. 

(2) Responsibility for the execution of the law 
must be clearly defined, and must ultimately rest 
upon one person, an officer of the state ; but every 
facility for ready prosecution of offenders must be 
at command of the responsible officer. 

(3) None but paid officials can be expected to 
do efficient service, and financial responsibility in 
all directions must be recognized as alone produc- 
tive of care in the performance of duties, as well as 
in obedience to regulations. 

{4) Recognition of common interest in the pro- 
tection of this kind of property can come only by 
a reasonable distribution of financial liability for 
loss between the state and local community and 
the owners themselves. 

Only when the state has made ample and reason- 

1 See Appendix for draft of a forest fire law. 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 261 

ably efficient provisions to protect forest property- 
may the community impose obligations upon the 
owner and restrict him in the use of his property, 
so that the protection can be made reasonably 
practicable; and only then and for such purpose 
may regulations in the use of the property, inter- 
ference by the state in its unrestricted manage- 
ment, be adjudged admissible even in those 
forests which we have designated as supply for- 
ests, i.e. those which have mainly or only an indus- 
trial and commercial significance. In other words, 
we conceive as a primary condition for the applica- 
tion of restrictive measures, in the use of private 
property, that the state furnish a quid pro quo t a 
compensation, direct or indirect. 

It has frequently been proposed in the United 
States to force the lumberman to burn his debris 
in order to reduce the fire danger. This prescrip- 
tion may be practicable and expedient in some 
cases, but not in others ; in its generality it would 
be both impracticable and inexpedient, unless 
specific precautions and supervision accompany 
it, as pointed out on pp. 188 ff. Here also the 
practical objection would be properly raised that, 
unless all the states, or at least a group of states 
under similar conditions, exact such precaution, the 
lumberman's industry in the one state which ex- 
acts it would be placed at a disadvantage as com- 
pared with the neighboring state which neglects 
it. In such case, it would appear equitable that 



262 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

at least part of the burden should be borne by the 
state or local community. 

In European countries the existence of well- 
organized state forest administrations renders the 
execution of legislation for the protection of forest 
properties much easier, since there is a machinery 
of officials whose functions can be readily extended. 

These officials, as well as those employed by 
private owners under prescribed conditions, are 
under oath, uniformed, and endowed with sheriffs' 
power, and can, therefore, act readily. Even the 
forest owner has, in Prussia, the right to call out 
assistance to fight fires, which assistance is obliga- 
tory on every citizen. 

Curiously enough, regarding property rights, the 
mediaeval idea, that the forest is more or less com- 
mon property (" quia non res possessa, sed de ligno 
agitur"), dominates still the modern laws of Europe, 
which look with more leniency upon depredations 
on forest property than upon other common theft, 
and the proceedings and amount and character of 
punishment are also special. Among the latter 
obligatory work in the forest is a significant one. 
But the punishment for incendiaries is so much 
severer. The German code makes wilful incendi- 
arism punishable by penitentiary up to ten years, 
and negligent incendiarism by prison up to one 
year. Railroad companies are obliged to main- 
tain safety strips as described on p. 194, and are 
enjoined to take other precautions. 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 263 

With the efficiency of the state organization in 
protecting forest properties comes also the in- 
creased ability of the private interest to help itself, 
and finally the propositions for a forest fire insur- 
ance on the principle of mutuality, such as have 
been lately ventilated, especially in the Prussian 
province of Hanover and in Saxony, may become 
practicable. 

As we have seen in the chapter on silviculture, 
there are, besides the fire danger, insect pests and 
wind-storms to be feared, and hence they call for 
measures of a police character. To insure against 
excessive damage by insects, cooperation on the 
part of private owners may be enforced, as is done 
in most German states. To protect a neighboring 
forest against windfalls, the removal of the adja- 
cent forest growth is prevented in Austria, a rather 
doubtful exercise of restrictive functions. 

Generally speaking, restrictions and supervision 
of private forest industry have proved themselves 
mostly undesirable and impracticable; their only 
justification would appear when protection of 
neighboring properties or of general communal 
interests demonstrably require them. 

The mediaeval attempts at legislation which for- 
estry reformers in the United States have made 
or proposed, in their mistaken belief that the old 
countries furnish a precedent, namely, restricting 
private owners in the size of trees which they may 
be allowed to cut, or requiring them to plant a 



264 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

tree for every one cut, will appear rather ludi- 
crous to those who have read the three preceding 
chapters. 

How averse even European governments are to 
restrictive measures may be learned from the man- 
ner in which the Prussian law works ; where only 
minor local interests are at stake, the prin- 
ciple " de minimis no?i curat prcetor" prevails. 
Whenever a property owner thinks or fears that 
the mismanagement of his neighbor's property is 
endangering his own property he may call for a 
jury to view the case, and the state will interfere 
according to the verdict, either forbidding absolute 
clearing, or prescribing the manner in which the 
property may be utilized ; the loss which, if any, 
may accrue to the forest owner from this curtail- 
ment of the free exercise of property rights may 
be assessed on the complainant who is benefited, 
as well as the cost of proceedings. 

For fiscal reasons only, a supervision over the 
management of forest properties belonging to 
communities, villages, and cities is exercised on 
the same principle which is applied in preventing 
communities from incurring debts beyond certain 
limits determined by the state. This supervision 
consists usually in the requirement that no perma- 
nent clearing be made without special permission, 
that the plans of management be submitted for 
sanction by the government, and that approved 
skilled foresters be employed. 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 265 

Wherever else supervision or interference with 
the free exercise of property rights exists on the 
part of the state, it is not based on questions of 
supply, but of protection to threatened interests 
of some magnitude. 

In this respect, as we have seen, forest property 
assumes a peculiar position. 

The recognition of the fact that the removal of 
the protecting forest cover may give rise to shift- 
ing sands and sand dunes, which may encroach 
and despoil larger areas beyond, is sufficient call 
for the exercise of the police functions of the state 
to prevent such damage, if we admit the providen- 
tial character of such functions. 

The experience that the deforestation or even 
bad management of the forest cover, forest devas- 
tation, on mountain tops and hills, leads to exces- 
sive water stages, to destructive floods, filling 
channels, thereby impeding navigation and silting 
agricultural soils, damaging neighboring or dis- 
tant interests, again makes the exercise of the 
police function of the state, in the wider sense in 
which I have defined it, necessary in order to 
prevent the consequences of mismanagement of 
the protective forest cover in such particular 
situations. 

The sugar planter in Louisiana, whose crop is 
endangered or destroyed by overflows due to 
causes a thousand miles away, has a right to pro- 
tection through the government. The city mer- 



266 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

chant, the mechanic, the laborer, the professional 
man, are either directly or indirectly interested in 
the success of the agriculturist, and hence what- 
ever disturbs the peaceful prosecution of the busi- 
ness of the latter is a matter that affects everybody 
and calls for public concern. He who is in safety 
is as sure to feel the losses as he who is directly 
in the path of the flood. Hence we should con- 
sider the protection of our watersheds as much a 
national problem as the improvement of our water- 
ways, and even more so. 

No new functions are called into play, simply 
the primary function of all government, the police 
function, only extended according to our present 
knowledge of the relations of things. 

Logically, to be sure, if it is once admitted that 
the state is justified in preventing the mismanage- 
ment of a property, when by such mismanagement 
damage is inflicted upon neighbors, the further 
suggestion lies near, that it may enforce the plac- 
ing in proper condition of a property which in its 
improper condition is a menace to other interests. 
Here, however, the innocence of the owner in the 
creation of these unfavorable conditions may mod- 
ify the aspect of things, and we must appeal from 
the police function to the wider socialistic function 
which imposes upon the state the duty, not only 
to maintain social existence, but to assist social 
progress by cooperation, or, as Lester F. Ward 
puts it, "to render harmless those forces which 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 267 

now seem to be working evil, and to render useful 
those now running to waste." 

In this way we come to the function of internal 
improvement. As a matter of fact, these princi- 
ples have found expression in the forest policies 
of various European nations, as we shall see in the 
next chapter. 

The forcible reforestation of denuded mountain 
slopes by the owners with the financial aid of the 
state, as carried on in France, Italy, Switzerland, 
and Austria, is an admission of this double obliga- 
tion, namely, that of the owner to keep his prop- 
erty in proper condition and that of the state to 
secure internal improvement. Such improvements, 
to be sure, must be palpably of public benefit and 
not of advantage to individual interests only; where 
forest growth would be simply useful, the state may 
employ ameliorative measures, indirectly encourag- 
ing private enterprise, but where a forest growth 
is indispensable to the public welfare, its duty is 
farther reaching, and coercion or other interference 
is called for. It will appear at once that the dis- 
tinction is one which must be made in each individ- 
ual case. The adequacy of the interest for which 
the state enters must be apparent. 

As to the methods and manner of applying these 
principles, a variety may be suggested. The de- 
termination as to the protective quality and neces- 
sity of maintaining the forest property as such, and 
the quality of the state's interference, may be pre- 



268 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

scribed generally, as in the law of Italy, or specifi- 
cally in each case, as in the law of Bavaria. The 
interference may consist in simply forbidding an 
absolute clearing, or else prescribing the manner 
in which the property may be utilized. 

Where, on account of the smallness of separate 
holdings, a good forest management could not be 
maintained, coercive cooperation, the management 
of all the parcels as a unit, may recommend itself, 
or else the state, having a well-officered forest 
administration, may undertake the management 
for the owner, at least for a time. Where refor- 
estation becomes necessary, it has usually been 
recognized incumbent upon the state either to re- 
imburse, or at least to assist and alleviate, the bur- 
den of reforestation by relieving from taxation, for 
a given time, the land to be reforested, as is done 
in France for thirty years, and in Austria for 
twenty-five years, or by the granting of bounties on 
plantations, as practised in Austria and Prussia and 
also in the United States. Or else supplies of 
plant material have been granted, or part of the 
cost of planting is borne by the state, or else loans 
at low interest have been given to ease the burden 
of replanting. This very judicious assistance was 
given by the province of Hanover during the years 
1877 to 1883; in order to encourage the planting 
of the Luneburg heath, the sum of nearly $100,000 
was loaned to nine associations, ten cities, and 
thirty-one private landowners, by means of which 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 269 

about ten thousand acres of this hitherto barren 
and almost useless part of the province became 
productive. 

Finally, however, it will be found that control 
and supervision of private property is an unsatis- 
factory, expensive, and only partially effective 
method of securing conservative forest manage- 
ment, where the necessity of maintaining a forest 
growth may exist and the financial margin that can 
be had from it is but small. Experience in the 
old countries has shown that, in spite of the much 
more perfect machinery for enforcing laws, and in 
spite of the much more ready disposition to sub- 
mit to laws, than we are accustomed to see in 
this country, the attempts to control private prop- 
erty have been largely without the desired result. 
It then becomes preferable for the community to 
own and manage such forest areas. 

Such ownership may rest either in the state or 
else in the county, the town, or other political sub- 
division which seems most nearly interested in the 
maintenance of the protective cover. To obtain 
possession, if it cannot be had by purchase, the 
necessity of exercising eminent domain may arise. 
Such eminent domain is now exercised in most 
civilized states where public objects, public safety, 
or public utility require it ; usually, however, the 
objects for which this power may be called into 
requisition are definitely stated by law. 

If the question of protection of forests be once 



270 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

recognized as of importance to the general welfare, 
there is no reason why it should not be declared 
by law to justify the exercise of this power. And 
while usually the right to expropriation is reserved 
to the state, and presumably the objects are sup- 
posed to be an advantage to the whole, there can be 
no logical reason why this right may not be exer- 
cised for any parts of the state, or for any consid- 
erable portion of the community, provided the 
interest to be subserved is communal and not indi- 
vidual. Where the interests are of less range or 
significance, the maxim " de minimis no?i curat 
prcetor" may place the matter in that class of 
cases which must be adjusted by appeal to jury 
and by simple police regulation, as provided by the 
Prussian law. 

In practice the expropriation of forest property 
as a protective measure has found expression in 
France, Italy, Switzerland, and Austria. 

In France, according to the law of i860, private 
woodlands could be expropriated when the owners 
refused to' reforest or keep in forest, but restitution 
could be demanded within five years ; this very 
improper clause was abolished in 1882. 

In Switzerland the canton is empowered to, and 
at the request of the owner must, expropriate. 

In Italy the state, province, or community can 
exercise this right for the purpose of reforesting 
slopes to secure stable soil conditions and to 
regulate waterflow. 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 271 

In Austria a limited right to expropriate exists 
at the instance of the owner who cannot or does 
not desire to submit to regulations. 

We may now summarize briefly the results of 
this discussion. 

A rational forest policy requires a distinction 
into supply forests and protection forests. 

The former may be largely left to the free 
exercise of private enterprise, the state affording 
only the general protection accorded all property, 
and also the more specific protection which the 
peculiarities of forest property demand. 

In addition, the educational functions of govern- 
ment may be called into play by giving opportu- 
nity to acquire the needed technical knowledge, 
and such other ameliorative action may be resorted 
to as will assist and make possible a conservative 
management of forest property. This action is of 
more import in the forest industry than in other 
industries, because of its peculiarities, as pointed 
out. In certain given cases, temporary exemption 
from taxation, supplies of plant material, or better, 
financial assistance, may prove beneficial when 
the low rate of interest which the state commands 
will benefit the forest owner and enable him to 
reforest waste places, while tariff legislation, as 
far as it is to protect not exploitation, but to make 
possible a conservative forest management, may 
become necessary. Ownership of portions of the 
forest resource by the state, either as a fiscal 



272 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

measure, or, with much better reason, for the pur- 
pose of equalizing forest supplies and also for 
educational reasons, may be extended to supply- 
forests, but probably these objects can be attained 
by the ownership of protection forests alone. 

In the case of protection forests the degree and 
extent of their influence must determine the qual- 
ity of state control. The police function, either in 
its restricted sense or else extended in its meaning 
to assume a providential character, lies at the base 
of such control. Interference in or control of 
private forest management may suffice in cases 
where merely individual interests must be protected. 
Financial assistance and partial assumption of 
costs may be the proper policy where internal im- 
provement is sought, where unavoidable disasters 
are to be remedied, or where the interests of the 
community must be protected and the owners are 
not able to comply with the requirements. Where 
far-reaching communal interests require the main- 
tenance of a forest cover and its conservative 
management, especially on poor mountain soil, 
sand-dunes, etc., the ownership by the community, 
the state, or smaller subdivision becomes unavoid- 
able, since they can afford to forego revenue on 
the investment and manage with the single view 
to the general welfare. 

The freedom of private forest ownership has in 
Germany, and especially in Prussia, led not only to 
forest dismemberment and forest devastation, but 



METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 273 

also to inconsiderate clearing. On good soils this 
clearing may lead to something permanently better ; 
on mediocre and poor soils the result has been 
that agriculture, after the fertility stored up by 
the forest is exhausted, impoverishes the deluded 
farmer. These soils are now utterly ruined wastes, 
and can be made useful by reforestation only. 

Finally, when the ideal, the socialistic, coopera- 
tive, most highly organized state will have de- 
veloped, the policy will be that the community shall 
own or control and devote to forest crops all the 
poorest soils and sites, leaving only the agricul- 
tural soils and pastures to private enterprise, 



CHAPTER X. 
FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 

The conditions which a hundred years ago in- 
fluenced the policies of European nations in regard 
to their forest policies, — namely, the necessity of 
looking out for continuance of domestic supplies — 
have long ago changed. At that time the fuel 
question was still the important one, for coal had 
not yet become an established substitute, and, in 
the absence of railroad transportation, home sup- 
plies were a necessity. 

The many ordinances and laws, therefore, which 
attempted to assure continued home supplies have 
fallen into disuse, although the desirability of foster- 
ing home production and of securing the advantages 
of a general economic character which come from 
forest management — notably the employment of 
labor in winter time, which the forest industries 
offer — have still an influence upon the policy of 
governments, or are at least academically discussed 
as properly establishing a government interest even 
with regard to supply forests. 

In the main, however, the state forest policies 
of the European governments are based upon the 

274 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 275 

protective value of the forest cover, and the recog- 
nition that private interest cannot be expected or 
is insufficient to secure proper regard to this feature 
in its treatment of forest areas. 

It cannot be said, however, that a finally settled 
policy exists in any of the states, not even in 
Germany, but only that it is in a highly advanced 
stage of formation, with the tendency of increasing 
governmental interference. 

All the various methods of giving expression to 
state interest are employed; the educational func- 
tion, the police function, and finally state owner- 
ship, being brought into use. 

State ownership of forest areas, which in the be- 
ginning of the century began to decrease under the 
influence and misapplication of Adam Smith's teach- 
ing and the doctrine of individual rights, urged to 
its extreme consequences after the French Rev- 
olution, is now on the increase. Thus France, 
during and after the Revolution taking the lead in 
this dismemberment of the forest property, which 
the monarchy had maintained (then nearly 12 mill- 
ion acres), sold during the years 1791 to 1795 nearly 
one-half of the state forests, and continued to reduce 
the area until there remained in 1874 but one-fifth 
of the original holdings. Since then a reversal of 
the policy has been in practice, the area of state 
holdings is being increased, besides financial as- 
sistance in reforesting on a large scale being given 
to private owners and communities. 



276 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

In the budget for 1902, of $2,800,000 appro- 
priated for the state forest department, $1,000,000 
was set aside for the extension of state forests 
and necessary improvements in those now existing. 
The state now owns about 2,800,000 acres, — some- 
what over 1 2 per cent of the total forest area, — 
managed by a staff of 700 officials and protected 
by 3500 guards. 

In addition, private forest property is absolutely 
controlled as regards clearing ; no clearing may be 
done without notice to the government authorities, 
and in the mountain districts not without special 
sanction by the same. 

This control is especially stringent with refer- 
ence to the holdings of village and city corporations, 
which represent over 27 per cent of the forest area. 
These must submit their plans of management to 
the state forest department for approval, and are 
debarred from dividing their property, thus insur- 
ing continuity of ownership and conservative man- 
agement. 

The necessity for such control became apparent 
in the first quarter of the century, when, as a 
consequence of reckless denudation in the Alps, 
CeVennes, and Pyrenees, whole communities be- 
came impoverished by the torrents which destroyed 
and silted over the fertile lands at the foot of the 
mountains. Some 8,000,009 acres of once fertile 
soil in twenty departments were involved in these 
disastrous consequences of forest destruction on 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 277 

over 1,000,000 acres of mountain slopes. The work 
of recovery was begun under the laws of i860 and 
1864, and a revised law, the reboisement act, of 1882. 
Under this law the state buys and recuperates the 
land, or else forces communities or private owners 
to do so with financial aid from the government. 

Since the operation of this law the state has 
spent in purchases of worn-out lands, in works to 
check the torrents and in reforesting, nearly $20,000,- 
000, not including subventions to communities and 
private owners. It is estimated that more than 
$30,000,000 more will have to be expended before 
the area which the state possesses or will possess, 
probably some 800,000 acres in all, will be restored. 

The work of fixation of sand-dunes, which has 
occupied the attention of foresters in all states 
bordering the sea-coast, has been prominent in 
France since the beginning of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, especially in the Department of the Gironde, 
where during the years 1802 to 1864 a round 
$300,000 were spent in cooperation between the 
state, the municipal corporations, and private own- 
ers to fix the 250,000 acres of sand-dunes and turn 
them into pine forest, which now, together with 
1,500,000 acres of forest planted in its protection 
during the last century, yields a constant revenue 
and occupation for the poor population. 

A state forestry school at Nancy educates the 
officers, and is among the best on the Continent. 

England, in the home country, has had little 



278 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

need of a forest policy on account of its insular 
position and topography, although one-quarter of 
the country is waste, on which it would pay to 
cultivate wood-crops. It imports nearly all its 
needed wood supplies with over $i 00,000, 000. Of 
the 3,000,000 acres of woodlands, mostly devoted 
to purposes of the chase or to parks, 2 per cent are 
state forests, and so encumbered with rights of 
adjoining commoners as pasture or for wood sup- 
plies that no rational management is possible. 
But in India there is a well-organized state forest 
administration, and the government there exercises 
itself also in promoting private forestry. The 
policy here differs from those in existence on the 
Continent of Europe, in that it is based on the sup- 
ply question rather than the protective value of 
the forest cover. 

In the past the native people of India, as far as 
known, never realized the importance of their for- 
ests. They were mostly more or less common 
property, or else belonged to the rajas. They were 
cleared, destroyed, mutilated at all times and in all 
places, and the use of wood seems never to have 
formed an important factor in Hindoo civilization. 

With the advent of foreign commerce, exploita- 
tion for the more valuable export timbers received 
a new stimulus, and the forests were culled regard- 
less of the future either of forest or people. This 
exploitation was aggravated by the construction 
of railways, which, in themselves large consumers, 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 279 

also offered a premium on all that contributed to 
increased traffic. When at last it was noticed 
that the demands of timber for public works in 
some localities could no longer be supplied without 
costly transportation, the matter received the tardy 
public attention. 

The present effective organization of a forest 
department and forestry service, covering now a 
forest property of nearly 100,000 square miles, 
was established under the guidance of German 
thought and German methods, and for nearly half 
a century the heads of the state forest department 
were German foresters. 1 

Although the conditions surrounding the prob- 
lems of the Indian forest department are quite dis- 
similar from those with which we have to deal in 
our country, it will nevertheless be of interest, and 
suggestive for our own efforts in establishing for- 
estry practice, to give some space to a brief account 
of what has been established in India. 

In 1859, Dr. (now Sir) Dietrich Brandis was 
appointed superintendent of forests for Pegu ; in 
1862 he was charged with the duty of organiz- 
ing a forest department for all India, and in 1865 
he was appointed the first inspector-general for 
the forests of India under the first Indian Forest 
Act. During the forty years of its existence this 
department has steadily and rapidly grown in the 

1 Refer to the excellent account of this movement in B. Ribben- 
trop, " Forestry in British India," Calcutta, 1900, 245 pp., 8vo. 



280 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

area managed, the number of men employed, and 
the revenue derived for the state. In 1898 this 
forestry department had control of about 90,900 
square miles of forest, nearly half of all the for- 
ests, and about 10 per cent of the entire area of 
India. Of these state forests, nearly 82,000 square 
miles are " reserve " or permanent state forests, 
while the rest are held as " protected " and " un- 
classed," and will become reserve or permanent 
forests as fast as the necessary surveys and settle- 
ment can be made. 

The area of protected reserved forests is con- 
stantly varying, for although new areas are taken 
up, others are changed into reserves. About 
28,000 square miles of forest property of the em- 
pire remain still unclassed. On page 1 14 we have 
given an account of the personnel required in the 
management of this largest and youngest forest 
department of the world and its financial results. 

More than half of India lies within the Tropics, 
and over 60 per cent is farther south than New 
Orleans, the latitude of which is 30 . From this 
it is apparent that the climate is generally hot, but, 
owing to diversity of elevation and peculiarities of 
the distribution of rainfall, it is by no means 
uniform. 

The rains of India depend on extraordinary sea 
winds, or " monsoons," and their distribution is 
regulated by the topography of land and the rela- 
tive position of any districts with regard to the 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 28 1 

mountains and the vapor-laden air currents. Thus 
excessive rainfall characterizes the coast-line along 
the Arabian Sea to about latitude 20° N., and still 
more the coast of Lower Burma, and to a lesser 
extent also the delta of the Ganges and the south- 
ern slope of the Himalayas. A moderately humid 
climate, if gauged by annual rainfall, prevails over 
the plateau occupying the large peninsula and the 
Lower Ganges Valley, while a rainfall of less than 
fifteen inches occurs over the arid regions of the 
Lower Indus. In keeping with this great diver- 
sity of climate, both as to temperature and humid- 
ity, there is great variation in the character and 
development of the forest cover. The natural dif- 
ferences in this forest cover are emphasized by the 
action of man, who for many centuries has waged 
war against the forest, clearing it permanently or 
temporarily for agricultural purposes or else merely 
burning it over to improve grazing facilities or for 
purposes of the chase. Thus only about 20 per 
cent of the entire area of India is covered by 
woods, not over 30 per cent being under cultiva- 
tion, leaving about 50 per cent either natural 
desert, waste, or grazing lands. The great for- 
ests of India are in Burma; extensive woods 
clothe the foot-hills of the Himalayas and are scat- 
tered in smaller bodies throughout the more humid 
portions of the country, while the dry northwest- 
ern territories are practically treeless wastes. In 
this way large areas of densely settled districts are 



282 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

so completely void of forest that millions of people 
regularly burn cow dung as fuel. 

In the greater part of India the hardwood forest 
(conifers are scarce and confined in locality) con- 
sists not of a few species, as with us, but is made 
up of a great variety of trees unlike in their habit, 
their growth, and their product, and if our hard- 
woods offer on this account considerable difficul- 
ties to profitable exploitation, the case is far more 
complicated in India. In addition to the large 
variety of timber trees, there is a multitude of 
shrubs, twining and climbing plants, and in most 
forest districts also a dense undergrowth of giant 
grasses (bamboos), attaining a height of 30 to 1 20 
feet. These bamboos, valuable as they are in 
many ways, prevent, often for years, the grov/th 
of any seedling tree, and thus form a serious 
obstacle to the regeneration of valuable timber. 
The growth of timber is usually quite rapid; 
the bamboos make large, useful stems in a single 
season. Teak grows into large-size saw-timber in 
fifty to sixty years. But in spite of this rapid 
growth and the large areas not now in forest but 
capable of reforestation, India is not likely — at 
least within reasonable time — to raise more timber 
than it needs. In most parts of India the use of 
ordinary soft woods, such as pine, seems very re- 
stricted, for only durable woods, those resisting 
both fungi and insects (of which the white ants 
are specially destructive), can be employed in the 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 283 

more permanent structures, and are therefore ac- 
ceptable in all Indian markets. 

With the irregular distribution of forests, the 
peculiarities of Indian affairs, and the unsurveyed 
wild, and difficult conditions of the forests them- 
selves, it is but natural that the work thus far has 
been chiefly one of organization, survey, and pro- 
tection, and to a far less degree an attempt at im- 
provement by judicious cutting and reforestation. 

Over 23,000 square miles have been surveyed 
for forest purposes since 1874, at a cost of over 
$ 1,500,000. 

Work of establishing and maintaining boundary 
lines, which is often a very difficult and costly 
matter in the dense tropical jungles, involved 
during one year, 1894, an expense of over $40,000, 
and there are at present over 93,000 miles of such 
boundary lines maintained. Besides this survey 
work proper, there is a large force constantly at 
work to ascertain the amount and condition of 
timber supplies and to prepare suitable plans for 
their exploitation and improvement, so that over 
20 per cent of the entire forest area, or about 
20,000 square miles, is by this time managed with 
definite working plans as to amount of timber to 
be cut, the areas to be thinned, reforested, etc. 

The work of protection is chiefly one of pre- 
venting and fighting fires. This protection, with 
present means, cannot be carried on over the entire 
forest areas, of which large tracts are not even 



284 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

crossed by a foot-path, and in a land where the 
regular firing of the woods has become the cus- 
tom of centuries, and where, in addition, intensely 
hot and dry weather, together with a most luxu- 
riant growth of giant grasses, render these jungle 
fires practically unmanageable. In all forests 
near settlements the forest must be isolated by 
broad "fire traces" or otherwise. In the jungle 
forests these traces must be broad ; the grass, 
often taller than an elephant, must be cut and 
burned before the grass on either side is dry 
enough to burn. Similarly, the traces in the long- 
leaf pine forests must be very wide and first con- 
verted into grass strips, cut or kept clean by 
burning. In spite of the unusual difficulties there 
were, in 1898, over 32,000 square miles protected 
against fire, and on only 8 per cent of this area 
did the element succeed in doing any damage. 
In this work, too, great progress has been made 
during the last twenty years ; the efficiency has 
steadily increased, and the expense, about $10 per 
square mile in 1883, has been reduced to less than 
half, or 2 per cent, of the gross revenue. 

In the protection against unlawful felling, or 
timber stealing and grazing, the government of 
India has shown itself fully equal to the occasion 
by a liberal policy of supplying villagers in prox- 
imity to the forests with fuel, etc., at reduced 
prices or gratis. Over $2,000,000 worth was thus 
disposed of in 1 894-1 895, the incentive to timber 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 285 

stealing being thereby materially reduced. A 
reasonable and just permit system of grazing, 
where again the needs of the neighboring villagers 
are most carefully considered, not only brings the 
government a yearly revenue of nearly $800,000, 
but enables the people to graze about 3,000,000 
head of animals in the state forests, without doing 
any material damage to tree growth. 

Though the forests of India are now, and will 
continue for some time, little more than wild woods, 
with some protection and a reasonable system of 
exploitation, in place of a mere robbing or culling 
system, yet the work of actually improving the 
forests steadily increases in amount and perfec- 
tion. 

In the large teak forests of Burma, as well as 
other provinces, care is taken to help this valu- 
able timber to propagate itself ; the useless kinds 
of trees are girdled, huge climbers are cut off, and 
a steady war is waged against all species detri- 
mental to teak regeneration. Where the teak has 
entirely disappeared, even planting is resorted to. 
Thus in Burma over 35,000 acres have been re- 
stocked with teak by means of taungyas, or plan- 
tations, where the native is allowed to burn down 
a piece of woods, use it for a few years as field 
(though it is never really cleared) on condition of 
planting it with teak, being paid a certain sum for 
every hundred trees in a thrifty condition at the 
time of giving up his land. 



286 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Similarly, the department expends large sums 
in establishing forests in parts of the arid regions 
of Beluchistan, and, on the whole, has spent on 
cultural operations, in different years, from 2 to 5J 
per cent of its gross revenue, namely, at the rate 
of about $125,000 per year, over 100,000 acres 
having been planted since 1880. 

In disposing of its timber the government of 
India employs various methods. In some districts 
the people, paying a small tax, get out of the 
woods their needs. In other cases, the logger 
pays for what he removes, being neither limited 
in quantity nor quality of product. The prevalent 
systems, however, are the permit system, where a 
definite amount is to be cut and paid for, and the 
contract system, where the work is more or less 
under control of government officers, and the 
material remains governmental property until paid 
for. To a limited extent the Forest department 
carries on its own logging operations. In spite of 
many difficulties, a poor market (no market at all for 
a large number of woods), wild, unsurveyed, and 
practically unknown woodlands, unusual and costly 
organization and protection, the forestry depart- 
ment has succeeded, without curtailing the timber 
output of India, to prepare for an increase of 
output in the future, and at the same time has 
yielded the government a steadily growing revenue 
which bids fair before long to rank among the 
important sources of income. 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 287 

The growth of both gross and net revenue is 
illustrated in the following figures, rounded off, 
and figuring the rupee at one third of a dollar. 1 



Period. 


Gross 
Revenue. 


Expenditure. 


Surplus. 


Proportion of 

Expenditure to 

Revenue. 




M dollars. 


Per cent. 


1865-67 
1868-72 
1873-77 

1878-82 
1883-87 
1888-92 
1892-97 
1897-98 


1,200 
1,540 
2,l8o 
2,360 
3,5 6 
4,75° 
5,700 
5,930 


740 
I,IOO 
1,470 
1,630 
2,280 
2,700 
3,120 
3,400 


460 
440 
710 

730 
I,28o 
2,050 
2,580 
2,530 


6l 

71 

67 

67 
64 

56 

55 
57 



This steady rise in revenue in response to a rise 
in expenditures, is one of the best arguments of 
the efficiency of the administration, brought about 
by a liberal policy in paying for efficient adminis- 
tration, including a generous pension system — a 
policy which in its results compares most favor- 
ably with the stingy, niggardly policy which usually 
prevails in the United States in the employment 
of public officers. The inspector-general receives 
about $8000, and the conservators about $5000 
per annum. 

1 The figures given on p. 115 differ on account of different value 
used in translating rupees. 



288 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

In the expenditures it is of special interest to 
note that fire protection absorbs less than 2 per 
cent of the gross revenue, namely, about $100,000 
per year, and about as much is expended on cul- 
tural operations, while the superior staff absorbs 
a little over 1 3 per cent and the subordinate staff 
with office establishments 14 per cent. 

The forest laws of India were, like those of most 
countries, a matter of growth and adaptation, with 
the important difference, however, that the well- 
defined object of preserving a continuous supply 
of the all-essential timber was from the beginning 
steadily kept in mind. The principal acts are 
those of 1865, 1869, and especially the "Indian 
Forest Act" of 1878, with secondary legislation 
applying to particular localities, such as the act of 
1 88 1 for Burma and of 1882 for Madras, and others. 

In general, these forest laws provide for the 
establishment of permanent or " reserved " state 
forests, to be managed according to modern for- 
estry principles. They provide for a suitable 
force of men, give the forest officers certain 
police powers, prohibit unwarranted removal of 
forest products, the setting of fires, or otherwise 
injuring the forest property. The laws also regu- 
late grazing and the chase by permit systems, and 
prescribe rules by which the work of the depart- 
ment is carried on, as well as the manner in which 
officers are engaged, promoted, etc. Since the 
peculiar circumstances require men specially fitted 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 289 

and trained, schools were established to furnish 
the recruits for this steadily growing service. 
There is one at Cooper's Hill, England, where 
a thorough course is intended to prepare men for 
the superior staff positions, and the Imperial school 
at Dehra Dun, which is to supply the great num- 
ber of the executive staff, the young men starting 
in usually as guards or rangers at a pay of about 
$25 per month, working their way up to places 
worth $50 per month, and if well suited, eligible 
for further promotion. In the Dehra Dun school 
and the executive staff, the native element is fast 
making itself felt, and there is little doubt that the 
men of India will soon be able to manage the for- 
ests of their own native land. 

In most of the English colonies, there exist also 
beginnings of a forest policy, and in several of them, 
at least, forestry departments, albeit inefficient or 
impotent, as in New South Wales, whose timber 
wealth, originally enormous, is now rapidly deterio- 
rating under a loosely managed license system, 
although the department of agriculture and for- 
estry employs some 350 "foresters" and assistants 
on the 5,500,000 acres of forest land belonging to 
the government. 

Similarly in Western Australia, the conservator 
of the department of woods and forests is appar- 
ently powerless to extend any improved system of 
utilization over the 20,000,000 acres of woodlands 
to which the magnificent Eucalypts, especially the 



290 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Jarrah, Karri, and Red Gum, lend special value. 
The government merely controls the cutting by 
issuing licenses under certain reservations, and 
by collecting the revenue. 

In South Australia, which is mostly a forestless 
plains country, a forest department was instituted 
in 1876 for two purposes, namely, to plant and ad- 
minister state forest reservations, and to grow trees 
for free distribution. In 1890 there were about 
215,000 acres planted and in reservations, and dur- 
ing the fourteen years some 4,500,000 seedlings 
had been distributed ; the expenses above receipts 
having been $120,000 during the period. 

Cape Colony seems to be similarly situated, 
mainly forestless, and hence merely interested in 
tree planting, which is done in a small way by 
four conservators, who are directly under the Min- 
ister of the Colony. Here the government also 
assists municipalities in covering their watersheds 
by contributing half the expense. 

Even in the Soudan we note a beginning, a report 
for a plan having lately been at last called for. 

The Germans in their African possessions have 
also begun to introduce their painstaking forestry 
methods with success. 

Two years ago Egypt also entered the ranks of 
states with a forest policy, encouraging reforesta- 
tion by relief of taxes on planted land. 

The country which, next to British India, can 
claim to have the largest forest area under one 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 291 

policy is Russia. Although one of the export 
countries, with $30,000,000 to $35,000,000, and 
largely in the pioneering stage, Russia in Europe, 
well wooded with 500,000,000 acres in forest, al- 
though much in poor condition, has a well-devised 
forest policy, developed within the last thirty or 
fifty years, which consists not only in maintain- 
ing government forests to the extent of about 
300,000,000 acres, divided into 1500 districts 
under tolerably good management, and 15,000,- 
000 acres of Crown forests, personal property 
of the royal family, but in restricting private 
owners (110,000,000 acres in large domains and 
75,000,000 in lands of small owners) from abuse 
of their property, where the public welfare de- 
mands, while in the prairie country in southern 
Russia large amounts of money are spent by the 
government in planting forests and in assisting 
private enterprise in the same direction. 

With the Siberian forests and those of the Cau- 
casus added, the area of government forest may 
reach the large figure of 600,000,000 acres, which, 
though not yet all placed under management, is 
sooner or later to come under the existing forest 
administration. 

The restrictive policy dates from a very elabo- 
rate law passed in 1888, and extended greatly in 
1900, in which the democratic spirit in the constitu- 
tion of the body controlling the exercise of property 
rights is interesting. The approval of working 



292 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

plans, or of clearings on private property, is 
placed in the hands of a specially constituted 
committee for each county, which includes the 
governor, justices of the peace, the county council, 
and several forest owners, and the government 
itself must secure the approval of this committee 
for its operations. 

By this law, throughout European Russia, wood- 
lands may be declared " preserved forests " on the 
following grounds : That they serve as preven- 
tives against the formation of barrens and shifting 
sands, and the encroachment of dunes along sea- 
shores or the banks of navigable rivers, canals, 
and artificial reservoirs; that they protect from 
sand drifts towns, villages, cultivated land, roads, 
and the like ; that they protect the banks of navi- 
gable rivers and canals from landslides, overflows, 
or injuries by the breaking up or passing of ice ; 
that when growing on hills, steep places, or declines, 
they serve to check land or rock slides, avalanches, 
and sudden freshets ; and that they protect the 
springs and sources of the rivers and their tribu- 
taries. One hundred million acres of private 
forest have thus come under supervision. 

In these preserved forests, working plans are 
made at the expense of the government, and in 
the unpreserved forests at the expense of the 
owners. In each province the government main- 
tains an inspector-instructor, whose duty is to 
advise those who apply to him in forest matters, 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 293 

and as far as possible he is to superintend on 
the spot all forestry work. The government has 
established nurseries, from which private owners 
can obtain young trees and seeds at a low price. 
The owners are allowed to employ as managers 
of their forests the trained officials of the forest 
administration, while medals and prizes are given 
yearly to private owners for excellency in forest 
culture and management. Two higher and thirty 
lower schools of forestry are also maintained by 
the government. 

The forest institute in St. Petersburg, with a 
staff of 15 professors and instructors, and about 
450 students, and one at New Alexandria, near 
Warsaw, supply the superior staff. But the most 
important and characteristic feature in educational 
direction are the 30 silvicultural schools, in which 
the rangers or under-foresters are educated, al- 
most entirely at government expense. There are 
usually 3 teachers employed, and forestry offi- 
cials having also other duties, for the 20 students 
at each of these schools. The total expense of 
such a school is about $3300, of which the state 
contributes about $2500. 

Another characteristic feature is a method, re- 
vived in 1897, from German precedent of 150 years 
ago, and also practised in France, to secure refor- 
estation of cut-over lands. The wood-merchant 
who cuts timber on government lands, especially in 
the pineries, is obliged to clear the ground of debris, 



294 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

replant it, and hand it back to the government in 
satisfactory condition. To insure compliance with 
this condition, a deposit of $2 to $4 per acre is ex- 
acted. Results are not as yet on record. 

Russia's small neighbors at the southwestern 
frontier, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Roumania also 
can boast of quite effective forest administration. 
In the former, which is to the extent of 50 per 
cent forested, the state has, since 1878, instituted 
an orderly management on its 5,000,000 acres of 
forest property, while Roumania, since 1881, has 
not only a forest administration for its 2,500,000 
acres of state lands, but has also a very efficient 
and strictly enforced forest protection law, under 
which 84 per cent of all the forest lands, the total 
forest area being 6,800,000 acres, are declared pro- 
tection forests, and their plans of management 
must be sanctioned by the state authorities. Since 
1892, there is also established a forest melioration 
fund, to which the state contributes 2 per cent of 
the gross revenue from its forest property, for the 
purpose of encouraging reforestation. 

In Austria, which is wooded to the extent of 
30 per cent, and which exports over $40,000,000 in 
excess of imports, the disastrous consequences 
which the reckless devastation and abuse of her 
mountain forests by their owners has brought 
upon whole communities, have led to a more 
stringent and general supervision of private and 
communal forests than anywhere else. In 1868 a 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 295 

law was enacted which released reforested areas 
from taxes for 10 years, and under some condi- 
tions for 25 years; the effect seems to have been 
mainly a moral and educational one. Since 1883 
there has been in progress a work of recuperation 
similar to the French reboisement work, in which, 
up to 1894, nearly $1,500,000 had been spent, the 
state contributing variously from 25 to 100 per 
cent toward covering the expense, the state itself 
having reforested over 200,000 acres of waste 
lands. A fully organized forest department man- 
ages the government forests, 2,500,000 acres, or 
10 per cent of the total forest area, which are 
gradually being increased by purchase. 

Nearly 2,000,000 acres are declared protection 
forests, and the state exercises the right to ex- 
propriate or place under supervision private prop- 
erty for protective purposes. Lately (1898), for 
the purpose of directing the government's policy 
regarding the use of its soil resources, a Land- 
wirthschaftrath (agricultural council), composed 
of 75 members, has been instituted, consisting of 
farmers, foresters, miners, and others. One higher 
and several lower schools supported by the state 
provide instruction. 

Austria's sister state, Hungary y also has a well- 
established forest administration, and since 1879 
has had a law providing for supervision of private 
forest lands and for reforestation of waste lands, 
with the assistance of the state. 



296 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Italy has long suffered from the effects of forest 
devastation by droughts and floods, but the gov- 
ernment was always too weak to secure effective 
remedies. Densely populated, with one-third of 
its area unproductive and one-quarter almost be- 
yond redemption, no country offers better oppor- 
tunities for studying the evil effects of deforestation 
on soil and waterflow. The state owns only 1.6 
per cent, or 116,000 acres of forest, the balance of 
7,000,000 acres belonging to communities and cor- 
porations or to individuals. Yet by the laws of 
1877, revised in 1888, the policy of state inter- 
ference is clearly defined. Excellent though the 
law appears on paper, it has probably not yielded 
any significant results, since owing to the finan- 
cial disability of the government there has not 
even been general enforcement. This law placed 
nearly half the area not owned by the state 
under government control, namely, all woods 
and lands cleared of wood on the summits and 
slopes of the mountains above the upper limit of 
chestnut growth, and those that from their charac- 
ter and situation may, in consequence of being 
cleared or tilled, give rise to landslips, caving, 
or gullying, avalanches and snowslides, and may 
to the public injury interfere with watercourses 
or change the character of the soil or injure local 
hygienic conditions. Government aid is to be 
extended where reforestation appears necessary. 

Of the 76,000 acres which required immediate re- 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 297 

forestation for reasons of public safety, only 22,000 
were reforested in twenty years up to 1886, the 
government contributing $85,000 toward the cost. 

In the revised law of 1888, as a result of the 
past experiences, an elaboration of the same plan 
was attempted by creating further authority to 
enforce action. It is now estimated that 534,000 
acres need reforesting at a cost of $12,000,000, of 
which two-fifths is to be contributed by the state. 

Expropriation proceedings may be instituted 
where owners refuse to reforest, with permission 
to reclaim in five years by paying, with interest, 
the cost of work incurred by the state. 

The latest addition to the inefficient means of 
coping with the evil is an Arbor Day imported 
from the United States. 

A forestry school at Vallombrosa furnishes all 
needed opportunity to learn the necessary forestry 
methods. 

Our little sister republic, Switzerland, has had a 
long struggle during the first half of the nine- 
teenth century to come to a rational forest policy, 
although the damage done by its absence was 
clearly enough seen. Only in 1898 has the fed- 
eral government finally succeeded in becoming the 
executor of the protective laws in all cantons. These 
laws prohibit clearing in the high Alps without sanc- 
tion by the federal authorities. With the assistance 
of the bund reforesting is done where needed. A 
forestry school in Zurich educates the staff. 



298 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Sweden and Norway have been the great forest 
exploiters and exporters of wood materials of the 
last fifty years, supplying especially England with 
most of her needs. A comparatively large forest 
area (over 60,000,000 acres) accessible to water 
transportation by the many fiords and streams in- 
vited this exploitation, the product of which, to the 
extent of over 60 per cent, goes to England and 
France and amounts now to nearly 2,000,000,000 
feet, B.M. 

In Sweden, which contains nearly three-fourths 
of the forest area, crude beginnings of government 
interest are recorded from about the year 1500. 
In the year 1720 a director of forests was ap- 
pointed, the germ of the present Government 
Forest Department. It was then that the previous 
lax policy of the government gave place to a some- 
what sentimental solicitude. " It is rather amus- 
ing to read the jeremiads that were given utterance 
to both inside and outside the Riksdag by the 
men of light and leading of that age with regard 
to the question of forest exhaustion, when only the 
fringe of the woodlands had been touched and 
forest property had scarcely a nominal value as a 
realizable asset . . . the champions of a policy of 
restriction originated equally .as much in an appre- 
hended deterioration of climate as in an actual 
scarcity of wood. Both these apprehensions proved 
groundless, and we have the testimony of one 
of the foremost public men of Sweden that the 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 299 

climate of Norrland, especially, has been much 
improved the last sixty years by the partial cutting 
down of the forests." x 

In the first part of the nineteenth century laws 
were passed to restrict clearing, determine the 
minimum size of logs to be cut, and, in some 
parts (Lapland), where climatic deterioration was 
specially feared, preventing all cutting without per- 
mission from the government. The more system- 
atic administration of government forests, some 
18,000,000 acres, dates from the year i860, and 
with it a more conservative policy in the exploita- 
tion generally. The success of this administration 
seems not to have been conspicuous, due partly, 
perhaps, to an ultra conservative management, 
partly to the license system under which much 
of the State forests are cut over by lumbermen. 
Continuous agitation and troubling prophesies con- 
cerning the future of the timber trade led, in 1894, 
to a special investigation of the subject by a com- 
mission sent out from the University. As a result 
of this inquiry it appears that Sweden is fully able 
to continue her present cut, or even increase it, 
without exhausting her resource, provided it is 
sufficiently protected to permit its renewal and the 
cutting is done conservatively. 

The simplicity of the composition of the forest, 
namely, pine and spruce with oak almost exclu- 

1 "The Wood Industries of Sweden," Timber Trades Journal, 
1896. 



300 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

sively, insure the renewal with valuable species, 
although it appears that the spruce is gaining over 
the pine. Replanting has been begun even by 
private forest owners ; in some cases on large 
areas. Towns and country districts and parishes 
own extensive forest tracts. The parish of Orsa 
is an example of several in similar condition, real- 
izing a fund of $2,500,000 from its forest lands, 
which does away with the need of taxes. These 
areas are under the management of a local com- 
mittee, with the governor of the province as chair- 
man, a crude selection system only being practised. 

The country which has attracted the greatest 
interest in all matters pertaining to forestry, be- 
cause the science of forestry is there most thor- 
oughly developed and applied, is Germany. 

It may, therefore, be of interest not only to 
describe the forest policies of Germany more 
fully, but briefly to trace their historical develop- 
ment. 

Although as early as Charlemagne's time a con- 
ception of the value of a forest as a piece of prop- 
erty was well recognized by that monarch himself, 
and crude prescriptions as to the proper use of 
the same are extant, a general, really well-ordered 
system of forest management hardly existed until 
the beginning of the eighteenth century. Spo- 
radically, to be sure, systematic care and regular 
methods of reproduction were employed even in 
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 301 

To understand the development of the present 
forest policy in Germany, one must study the 
peculiar conditions and development of property 
rights that led to it. Germany was originally set- 
tled by warriors, who had to keep together in order 
to resist enemies and conquerors on every side, 
and to be ready to move and change domicile at 
any moment. The soil which was conquered was, 
consequently, not divided, but, owned as a whole, 
was managed by and for the whole tribe. It is only 
in the sixth century that signs of private property 
in woodlands are discernible. Before that time 
it was res nullius, or, as it is expressed in legal 
manuscripts, " quia 11011 res possessa sed de ligno 
agitur." 

Wood being plentiful and yet needed by every- 
body, it appeared not a crime to take it unless it 
had been already appropriated or bore unmistak- 
able signs of ownership, such as being cut or 
shaped. But severe punishments were in earliest 
times inflicted for incendiarism and for damage to 
mast trees, since the seed mast for the fattening of 
swine was one of the most important uses of the 
forest. 

There was not much need of partition, especially 
of the forests. The community, to which all the 
land of a district belonged, and which was man- 
aged by and for the aggregate of society, was 
called the " mark," a communistic institution of 
most express character, and every " marker " or 



302 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

shareholder was allowed to get the timber needed 
by him for his own use without control. 

This early communal ownership of forest land 
undoubtedly explains the fact that even to-day 
over 5 per cent of the forest is owned by com- 
munities, cities, or villages. Gradually the neces- 
sity of regulating the cutting of the wood became 
apparent, as the best timber in the neighborhood 
of the villages was removed ; and we find quite 
early mention of officials whose duty it was to 
superintend the felling, removing, and even the 
use of the timber. By and by even the firewood 
was designated by officials. Manufacturers re- 
ceived their material free of charge, but only as 
much as was needed to supply the community. 
Occasionally there were rules that each man had 
to plant trees in proportion to his consumption. 
So that by the end of the fourteenth century quite a 
system of forest management had been developed. 

Meanwhile the Roman doctrine of the regal 
right to the chase had also begun to assert itself 
by the declaration of certain districts as ban for- 
ests, or simply forests, in which the king exclu- 
sively reserved the right to chase. The kings 
again invested their trusted followers and nobles 
with this right to the chase in various districts, 
thus gradually dividing the control of the same. 

While at first these reservations did not bring 
with them restrictions in the use of the timber or 
pasture or other products of the forest, these uses 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 303 

were gradually construed as exercised only by 
permission, and the former owners were reduced 
to holders of " servitudes," i.e. holders of certain 
rights in the substance of the forest. The fact 
that the feudal lords frequently became the ober- 
markers, or burgomasters, of the mark community 
lent color of right to these restrictions in the use 
of the property, besides the assertion that the 
needs of maintaining the chase required and en- 
titled them to such control. 

It is interesting to note that through all the 
changes of centuries, these so-called servitudes 
have lasted until our own times, much changed, to 
be sure, in character, and extended by new grants, 
especially to churches, charitable institutions, cities, 
villages, and colonists. Such rights, to satisfy 
certain requirements from the substance of an 
adjoining forest, were then usually attached to the 
ownership of certain farms, and involved counter 
service of some sort, usually in hauling wood or 
doing other forestry work. 

Sometimes when the lordly owners of large 
properties exercised only certain prerogatives to 
show ownership, these, in the course of time, 
lapsed into the character of servitudes, the forest 
itself by occupation becoming the property of the 
community. With changes in value and other 
changes in economic conditions, these rights often 
became disadvantageous and more and more cum- 
bersome to either or both sides. 



304 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

The present century has been occupied with the 
difficult labor of relieving this state of things and 
making equitable arrangements by which the for- 
ests become unencumbered and the beneficiaries 
properly satisfied by cession of land or a money 
equivalent. 

This chapter of the history of forest policy is 
especially interesting to us, as a tendency, nay the 
practice, exists of granting such right to the public 
timber to the settlers in the western states, which 
by and by will be just as difficult to eradicate when 
rational forest management is to be inaugurated. 

Over 5,000,000 marks and several hundred acres 
of land were required in the little kingdom of 
Saxony to get rid of the servitudes in the state 
forests. The Prussian budget contains still an 
item of 1,000,000 marks annually for this purpose ; 
and although over 22,000,000 marks and nearly 
20,000 acres of land have been spent for this pur- 
pose in Bavaria, the state forests there are still 
most heavily burdened with servitudes. 

The doctrine of the regal right to the chase, as 
we have seen, led to the gradual assertion of all 
property rights to the forest itself, or at least to 
the exclusive control of its use. This right found 
expression in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries 
in a legion of forest ordinances, aiming at the 
conservation and improvement of forest areas, 
and abounding in detailed technical precepts. 

At first, treating the private interest with some 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 305 

consideration, they gradually more and more re- 
strict free management. Prohibition of absolute 
clearing, or at least only with the permission of 
the government ; the command to reforest cleared 
and waste places ; to foster the young growth ; 
limiting the quality of timber to be felled ; the pre- 
vention of devastation by prohibiting the pastur- 
ing of cattle in the young growth, rules in regard 
to the removal of the forest litter, of pitch gather- 
ing, etc., were among these prescriptions, with 
many others, such as prescribing the manner 
and time of felling, the division into regular fell- 
ing lots, determination as to what is to be cut as 
firewood and what as building timber. Then, 
with the increasing fear of a reduction in sup- 
plies, followed prohibitions against exportation, 
against sale of woodlands to foreigners, against 
speculation in timber by providing schedules of 
prices, and from time to time entire exclusion 
from sale of some valuable species. Even the 
consumer was restricted and controlled in the 
manner of using wood. 

In mediaeval times, besides private forests of the 
king and lords, only the communal forest (all- 
mende) was known, and small holdings of farmers 
were comparatively rare until the end of the 
middle ages. 

The Thirty-years War and the following troub- 
lous times gave rise not only to extended forest 
devastation, but also to many changes in owner- 



306 ECONOMICS. OF FORESTRY. 

ship of woodlands. With the growing instability 
of communal organization of the " mark," division 
of the common property took place, and thus 
private ownership by small farmers came about, 
reducing the communal holdings. Colonization 
schemes by holders of large estates also led to 
dismemberment. 

A very large amount of the mark forest came 
into possession of the princes and noblemen by 
force, and later the possessions of the princes were 
increased by the secularization of the property of 
monasteries and churches. Until the end of the 
last century these domains belonged to the family 
of the prince, just as the right to the throne or the 
governing of the little dukedom, thus contributing 
toward the expenses of government. 

But when, as a consequence of the French 
Revolution and the Napoleonic wars and subse- 
quent changes, the conception of the rights of the 
governing classes changed, and in some states, 
like Prussia, much earlier, a division of domains 
into those which belonged to the prince's family 
as private property and those which were state 
forests was effected, so that now the following 
classes of forest property may be distinguished : — 

(i) State forests, which are administered by the 
government for the benefit of the commonwealth, 
each state of the confederation owning and ad- 
ministering its own. 

(2) Imperial forests, belonging to the empire 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 307 

and administered for its benefit, situated in the 
newly acquired province of Alsace-Lorraine. 

(3) Crown forests (Fideicommiss), the owner- 
ship of which remains in the reigning family, 
which are administered by state government, but 
the revenues of which are in part applicable to 
government expenses. 

(4) Princely domains, which are the exclusive 
and private property of the prince. 

(5) Communal forests possessed by and admin- 
istered by village and city communities, or even by 
provinces as a whole for their own benefit. 

(6) Association forests, the remnants of the old 
" mark " forests, possessed by a number of owners, 
the state sometimes being part owner. 

(7) Institute and corporation, school or bequest 
forests, which belong to incorporated institutions, 
like churches, hospitals, and other charitable institu- 
tions. 

(8) Private forests, of larger or smaller extent, 
the exclusive property of private owners. 

The proportions of these classes of property 
which existed in the beginning of the century 
experienced considerable changes by the sale of 
state forests, the sales being due partly to finan- 
cial distress, partly to a mistaken application of 
Adam Smith's theories, which supposed that free 
competition would lead to a better management 
and to the highest development of the forest in- 
dustry as well as of other industries. 



308 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

This tendency, however, was checked when the 
fallacy of the theory became apparent, especially 
with reference to a property that demands con- 
servative treatment and involves such time element 
as we have seen. 

The hopes which were based on the success 
of individual efforts were not realized, and al- 
though control of private action had been retained 
by the state authorities, this could not always be 
exercised, and the necessity of strengthening the 
state forest administration became apparent. The 
present tendency, therefore, is not only to maintain 
the state forests, but to extend their area by pur- 
chase, mostly of devastated or deforested areas and 
by exchange for agricultural lands from the public 
domain. Thus, in Prussia, the increase of state 
forest area has been at the rate of 14,000 acres per 
year since 1867; during the decade 1891-1900 
170,000 acres of waste lands were added at the 
average cost of $10 per acre, and the budget of 
1900 contained $800,000 for that purpose. Bavaria 
spent about $6,000,000 in such purchases during 
the last 50 years. 

In districts where small farmers own extensive 
areas of barrens a consolidation is effected ; the 
parcels of remaining forest and the barrens are 
put together, the state acquires these and pays 
the owners either in money or other property. 

In Prussia, during the decade 1882-1891, 30,000 
acres were in this way exchanged for 1 7,000 acres, 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 309 

and in addition some 200,000 acres, waste or 
poorly wooded, were purchased at an expense of 
$3,500,000, round numbers. During the same 
decade the reforestation of 80,000 acres of waste 
lands was effected, while nearly 75,000 acres in 
the state's possession remained to be reforested. 

The annual budget for these reforestations of 
waste lands has been $500,000 for several years. 

The area of barrens and poor soils in Prussia, 
fit for forest purposes only, is estimated at over 
6,000,000 acres, which it is the policy of the State 
gradually to acquire and reform. 

The present distribution as regards property 
classes of the round 35,000,000 acres of forest in 
the whole empire is about as follows, varying, to 
be sure, very considerably in the single states of 
the confederation : — 

State and Crown forests (of which the Crown owns less than 

2 per cent) 32.7 

Imperial forests I 

Communal forests (5,000,000 acres) , 15.2 

Association forests 2.5 

Institute forests 1.3 

Private forests 48.3 

Half of the forest area consists of small holdings, 
below 2500 acres, while 15 per cent is in over 
12,000 acre domains. In Prussia, the private 
forest property comprises 53 per cent, with many 
large domains, while the state and Crown forests 
represent 31 per cent, the communal forests 12.5 
per cent, the balance being institute forests. 



310 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

The state and Crown forests are all under well- 
organized forest administrations, sometimes ac- 
credited to the minister of finance, sometimes to 
the minister of agriculture. These yield an an- 
nual net revenue of from $1 to $5 per acre of 
forest area, with a constant increase from year 
to year, which will presently be very greatly ad- 
vanced when the expenditures for road building 
and other improvements cease. 

In the state management the constant care is to 
avoid sacrificing the economic significance of the 
forest to the financial benefits that can be derived, 
and the amount cut is most conservative. 

The Imperial forests are of course managed 
in the same spirit as those of the several state 
forests. 

While the present communities, villages, towns, 
and cities are only political corporations, they 
still retain, in some cases in part, the character of 
the "mark," which was based upon the holding 
of property. 

The supervision which the princes exercised in 
their capacity of Obermaerker or as possessors of 
the right to the chase, remained, although based on 
other principles, as a function of the state, when 
the " mark " communities collapsed ; the principles 
being that the state was bound to protect the 
interest of the eternal juristical person of the 
community against the present trustees, that it 
had to guard against conflicts between the interest 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 311 

of the individual and that of the community in this 
property, that it should secure permanency of a 
property which insures a continued and increasing 
revenue. The principle upon which the control 
of these communal holdings rests is then mainly 
a fiscal one. 

The degree of control and restriction varies in 
different localities. Sale and partition and clearing 
of communal forest can usually take place only 
by permission of the state authorities, and is 
generally discountenanced except for good reasons 
{e.g. too much woods on agricultural soil). 

With reference to 5.6 per cent of communal 
forest property, this is the only control, entirely of 
a fiscal nature. The rest is more or less closely 
influenced in the character of its management, 
either by control of its technicalities or else by 
direct management and administration on the part 
of the government. 

Technical control makes it necessary that the 
plans of management be submitted to the govern- 
ment for - sanction, and that proper officers or 
managers be employed who are inspected by 
government foresters. This is the general sys- 
tem, under which 49.4 per cent of communal forests 
are managed (as also in Austria and Switzerland), 
giving greatest latitude and yet securing conserva- 
tive management. To facilitate the management of 
smaller areas several properties may be combined 
under one manager, or else a neighboring govern- 



312 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

ment or private forest manager may be employed 
to look after the technical management. 

Where direct management by the state exists, 
the state performs the management by its own 
agents with only advisory power of the communal 
authorities, — a system under which 45 per cent of 
the communal forests are managed (also in Austria 
and France). 

In Prussia this system exists in a few localities 
only, but since 1876 it is there provided as penalty 
for improper management or attempts to avoid 
the state control. 

This system curtails, to be sure, communal 
liberty and possibly financial results to some ex- 
tent, but it has proved itself the most satisfactory 
from the standpoint of conservative forest manage- 
ment and in the interest of present and future 
welfare of the communities. Its extension is 
planned both in Prussia and Bavaria. 

Sometimes the state contributes toward the cost 
of the management, on the ground that it is carried 
on in the interests of the whole commonwealth. 
A voluntary cooperation of the communities with 
the state, in regard to forest protection by the 
state forest guards, is in vogue in Wiirtemberg, 
as also in France. Institute forests are usually 
under similar control as the communities. 

The amount of state influence, and especially 
the control of private forests, is extremely vary- 
ing from state to state, even for the same state 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 313 

in different districts. A direct state control of 
some kind is exercised over only 29.7 per cent 
of the private forest, mostly in southern and mid- 
dle Germany, while 70.3 per cent of the private 
property is entirely without control. 

As far as the large land-owners are concerned, 
this has mostly been of no detriment, as they are 
usually taking advantage of rational management ; 
but the small peasant holdings show the bad effects 
of this liberty quite frequently in the devasted 
condition of the woods and waste places. As a 
competent writer puts it : " The freedom of private 
forest ownership has led in Prussia not only to 
forest dismemberment and devastation, but often 
to change of forest into field. On good soils the 
result is something permanently better ; on medium 
and poor soils the result has been that agriculture, 
after the fertility stored up by the forest has been 
exhausted, has become unprofitable. These soils 
are now utterly ruined and must be reforested as 
waste lands." 

Need, avarice, speculation, and penury were 
developed into forest destruction when in the be- 
ginning of this century the individualistic theories 
led to an abandonment of the control hitherto 
existing, and it was found out that the principle so 
salutary in agriculture and other industries was a 
fatal error in forestry. 

According to the character of state control, the 
entire forest area may be classified as follows : — 



314 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

(i) Managed by state authorities as state prop- 
erty, 11,360,000 acres, which is 32.7 per cent. 

(2) Managed by the state authorities, but the 
property of corporations, villages, towns, etc., a lit- 
tle over 2,212,000 acres, which is 6.3 per cent. 

(3) Under strict government control, the plans 
of management and the permissible cut having to 
be approved by state authorities (corporation prop- 
erty), 3,875,000 acres, which is 11.1 per cent. 

(4) Under supervision of the state, not only as 
common property but as special property, subject 
to inspection and, in part, to control of state forest 
authorities (nearly all private property and that 
partly belonging to large estates), 4,767,000 acres, 
which is 13.7 per cent. 

(5) Without any government control or super- 
vision beyond that of common property, 11,490,- 
000 acres, which is 33 per cent. These forests 
may be divided, sold, cleared, and mismanaged, 
except under the certain cases before mentioned. 
Here belong all private forests of Saxony and 
Prussia and part of the corporation forests of 
Prussia and all those of Saxony. 

Where control of private forests exists it takes 
various forms : — 

(1) Prohibition to clear permanently or at least 
necessity to ask permission exists in Wurtemberg, 
Baden, and partially in Bavaria. (Protection of 
adjoiners !) 

(2) Enforced reforestation within a given time 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 315 

after removal of the old growth and occasionally 
on open ground where public safety requires. 

(3) Prohibition of devastation or deterioration — 
a vague and undefinable provision. 

(4) Definite prescription as to the manner of 
cutting (especially on sand-dunes, along river 
courses, etc.). 

(5) Enforced employment of qualified personnel. 
In addition to all these measures of restriction, 

control and police, and enforcement, there should 
be mentioned the measures of encouragement, 
which consist in the opportunity for the education 
of foresters, dissemination of information, and 
financial aid. 

In the latter direction Prussia, in the decade 
1 882-1 892, contributed for reforestation of waste 
places by private owners $335,000, besides large 
amounts of seeds and plants from its state nurs- 
eries. Instruction in forestry to farmers is given at 
twelve agricultural schools in Prussia. In nearly 
all states permission is given to government offi- 
cers to undertake for compensation at the request 
of the owners the regulation or even the manage- 
ment of private forest property. 

For the education of the lower class of foresters 
there may be about twenty special schools in Ger- 
many and Austria, while for the higher classes not 
only ten special forest academies are available, but 
three universities and two polytechnic institutes 
have forestry faculties. 



316 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Besides, all states have lately inaugurated sys- 
tems of forest experiment stations ; and forestry 
associations, not of propagandists but of practition- 
ers, abound. As a result of all this activity in for- 
estry science and practice, not less than twenty 
forestry journals in the German language exist, 
besides many official and association reports and 
a most prolific book literature. 

Germany, as constituted at present, has an area 
of 133,000,000 acres — about one-fifteenth of our 
country, — a population of about 47,000,000, or less 
than 3 acres per capita, or only one-tenth of our 
per capita average. Its forests cover 34,700,000 
acres, or 26 per cent of the entire land surface. 
A large portion of the forests cover the poorer, 
chiefly sandy, soils of the North German plains, 
or occupy the rough, hilly, and steeper mountain 
lands of the numerous smaller mountain systems, 
and a small portion of the northern slopes of the 
Alps. They are distributed rather evenly over 
the entire empire. Prussia, with 66 per cent of 
the entire land area, and also of the entire forest 
area, possesses 23.5 per cent of forest land, while 
the rest of the larger states have each over 30 
per cent, except small, industrious Saxony, which 
lies intermediate, with 27 per cent of forest cover. 

In spite of the care bestowed upon the manage- 
ment of this resource, which is constantly yielding 
larger returns as the properties get into regular 
working order, — the output now is probably 1500 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 317 

million cubic feet of wood over 3-inch, of nearly 
40 cubic feet per acre, — Germany is next to Eng- 
land the largest importer of wood materials, with 
$70,000,000 excess of imports over exports, adding 
25 per cent to her home product. 

The condition of the forests depends largely 
on the amount of control exercised by the state 
authorities. It is best in all cases in the state 
forests, it is almost equally as good in the cor- 
poration forests under state control, and is poorest 
in the private forests, particularly those of small 
holders. 

The control of the corporation forests is perfect 
in a few of the smaller states only, notably Baden, 
Hesse, and Alsace-Lorraine ; also in some districts 
in Prussia where the corporation forests are man- 
aged by the state authorities, the wishes of the 
villagers or corporate owners being, however, 
always duly considered. In a large portion of 
Prussia, in Wiirtemberg, and in Bavaria the cor- 
poration provides its own foresters ; but these, 
as well as their plans of operation, must be ap- 
proved by the state authorities, so that here the 
management is under strict control of the state, 
and favorable forest conditions are at least partially 
assured. In Wiirtemberg the corporation is given 
the choice of supplying its own foresters or else of 
joining their forests to those of the state. This has 
led to state management of nearly 70 per Cent of 
all corporation forests. Only the corporation for- 



3i8 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

ests of Saxony and those of a small part of Prussia 
are without any supervision. Of the private for- 
ests, those of Prussia and Saxony, involving 69 per 
cent of all private forests of the empire, are en- 
tirely free from interference. They can be man- 
aged as the owner sees fit, and there is no obstacle 
to their devastation or entire clearing and conver- 
sion into field or pasture. The remainder of the 
private forests are under more or less supervision. 
In most districts a state permit is required before 
land can be cleared. Devastation is an offence, 
and in some states, notably Wtirtemberg, a badly 
neglected forest property may be reforested and 
managed by state authorities. In nearly all states 
laws exist with regard to so-called " protection for- 
ests," i.e. forests needed to prevent floods, sand 
blowing, land and snow slides, or to insure regu- 
larity of water supply, etc. Forests proved to fall 
under this category are under special control, but 
as it is not easy in most cases to prove the protec- 
tive importance of a forest, the laws are difficult 
to apply and not always enforced. 

An increase of state supervision over private 
forests has been attempted in Prussia by the 
establishment of a law previously referred to, 
which renders the owner of a forest liable for 
the damage which the devastation or clearing 
of his forest property causes to his neighbor. 
This law, however, is so difficult to apply, and 
puts the plaintiff to so great expense, that so 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 319 

far it has not been enforced to any extent ex- 
cept where the government itself is the injured 
party. 

Lately, as a result of destructive floods in Prus- 
sian rivers, extension of supervision by the state 
is urged again. 

Altogether we can distinguish the South German 
policy which has been always inclined to be re- 
strictive and coercive, from the North German 
tendencies which have only lately developed in 
this direction. The difference is perhaps due to 
the fact that South Germany is mainly mountain 
country, North Germany mainly plain. 

The unusual floods in the Prussian rivers, es- 
pecially the Oder, during the last decade, which 
occasioned over $2,500,000 damage, led to the 
appointment of a commission — just as this year 
in the state of New York — to propose remedies. 
In the two reports made in 1896 and 1898, the 
influence of forest cover on retardation of snow- 
melting, and of the forest floor on retardation of 
run-off are admitted, but forest conditions are found 
tolerably satisfactory. Nevertheless, new legisla- 
tion is proposed to supervise private forest man- 
agement so as to preserve existing conditions, the 
following points being made : — 

1. The forest areas which are of importance to 
the watershed must be definitely determined. 

2. A prescription for their management is only 
to be made, and if the management is found un- 



320 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

satisfactory by the county president, an appeal 
may be made to the courts. 

3. Clearing may be forbidden, subject to appeal. 

4. If unpermitted clearing is made, reforesta- 
tion may be enforced, but there is no right to force 
reforestation of lands now not in forest. 

5. The ploughing of slopes may be forbidden, 
and regulation of drainage channels ordered, but in 
that case the corporation, for whose sake this is 
done, must pay the cost or damage to the owner. 

6. The state is to give financial aid in secur- 
ing this work. 

Quite different in tone is the Bavarian law of 
1852, revised and accentuated in 1896, which ab- 
solutely forbids clearing, as well as any severe 
thinning, except by permission, in all protection 
forests, namely, on tops of mountains and ridges 
and steep slopes, on the high Alps where danger 
from land and snow slides is to be anticipated, or on 
sand-dunes, and wherever waterflow is influenced. 
The forest administration, either at the request of 
the owner or, on its own motion and final decision, 
by the forest courts, is to decide whether or not a 
forest property falls in this category. The plans 
of management for such properties must be sub- 
mitted for sanction by the government under 
penalty of $20 to $300, and even $600, per acre 
for any disobedience. Nor does the state recog- 
nize any obligation to compensate the owner for 
such restriction in the use of his property, although 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 321 

a proposition is now under discussion to give a 
tax release for 20 years for reforested tracts, pro- 
vided the owner foregoes all use of it for that 
period. 

The two smaller states of Baden and Wiirtem- 
berg seem to have succeeded better than any 
other states in their restrictive policies. Wiirtem- 
berg began proper measures, which have remained 
fundamental, as early as 1614, remodelling them 
in 1875 and 1879. 

The "forest police law " of 1879 decides : — 

(a) Clearing of forest requires a state permit: 
illegal clearing is punished with a fine. 

(b) A neglected piece of forest shall not be- 
come waste land ; the state authority sees to its 
reforestation with or without help of owner, the 
expenses to be charged to the forest. 

(c) If the state forester is convinced that a pri- 
vate owner cuts too much wood or otherwise mis- 
manages his forest, he is to warn the owner, and 
if this warning is not heeded, the forest authority 
may take in hand and manage the particular tract. 

id) Owners of small tracts of forest can com- 
bine into associations and can place their properties 
with municipal or even state forests for protec- 
tion and management. In the latter case they 
share the advantages of part of the municipal or 
communal forests which are managed by state 
authorities. 

The law of 1875 relating to the management 



322 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

and supervision of forests belonging to villages, 
towns, and other public corporations, about one- 
third of the forest area, places all the forests un- 
der this category under direct state supervision ; 
there being a special division of corporation or 
municipal forests in connection with the state 
forestry bureau. The law demands that all cor- 
poration forests be managed in accordance with 
the principles of a continued supply, the same as 
the state forests. The corporation may employ 
its own foresters, but these must be approved by' 
the forestry bureau and are responsible for the 
proper execution of the plans of management. 
These plans are prepared by the foresters and 
must be approved by the state forest authorities. 
If preferred, the corporation may leave the man- 
agement of its forests entirely to the state au- 
thorities. This is always done if a corporation 
neglects to fill the position of its forester within 
a certain period after it becomes vacant. Where 
the state forest authorities manage either corpora- 
tion or private forest, the forest is charged with eight 
cents per acre and year for this administration. 
This fee is generally less than it costs, so that the 
state has been really making a sacrifice so far in 
providing a satisfactory management for these 
forests. 

The forest policy of Baden has also been con- 
servative for a long time, and there is no state 
in Germany where the general conditions of the 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 323 

forests are better. Since all municipal and cor- 
poration forests are under direct state control, 
being managed by the state forest authorities, 
about 910,000 acres, or over 60 per cent of all 
forests, enjoy a careful, conservative treatment, 
which insures to them the largest possible return 
in wood and money. But even the private for- 
ests, representing another third of the forest area, 
are under the supervision of the state authorities, 
and though the private owner may use his forest 
very much as he pleases, he can in no way 
devastate or seriously injure it. Clearing re- 
quires a permit, even a complete clearing cut, 
which latter is permitted only if the owner guar- 
antees the reforestation of the denuded area within 
a given time. Bare and neglected spots in forests 
must be restocked, and failure of private owners 
to comply with the forest rules and laws leads to 
temporary management of the forest by the state 
authorities, such management never to continue 
less than ten years. 

It is evident that the existence of thoroughly 
organized, efficient state forest administrations 
make the execution of the laws regarding the use 
of forest properties comparatively easy, and from 
the technical point of view the supervision compe- 
tent. Moreover, the good example which the 
forest management of the state sets is of most 
salutary influence, especially in showing that such 
management pays. 



324 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

By good management for " sustained yield " the 
yearly cut has been increased, in some cases 
doubled, since the beginning of the century, and 
the income has increased of course in greater rate, 
partly due to advance in prices for wood, which 
for a long series of years has not been less than 
I J per cent annually, partly to increase in the 
quality of the output, but largely to improvements 
in transportation, for which large sums have been 
expended, especially during the last fifty years. 
The future promises even greater returns, when 
all the properties are in working order and covered 
with road systems. 

Moreover, it is believed that the state adminis- 
trations are now less profitable than they might be, 
as they are managed with great conservatism and 
without an attempt at greatest financial results, the 
economic objects being kept foremost. 

The following tables give most briefly an insight 
into the financial aspect of forest management of 
the leading states. They show that the financial 
results vary considerably for the different adminis- 
trations, owing largely to differences in market 
conditions ; they also show the increase of revenue 
from 1890 to 1897. The figures for the whole 
country are in part rounded-off estimates for all 
the state forests. The record of the city of 
Zurich is added to show how an intensively man- 
aged small forest property under most favorable 
conditions of market compares with the more ex- 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 325 



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FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 327 

Percentic Distribution of Main Expenditures, 1897. 



State forest of — 



Prussia . . 
Bavaria . . 
Wiirtemberg 
Saxony . . 
Baden . . 





Adminis- 




Total ex- 
penses. 


tration and 

protection 

(mostly 

salaries). 


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timber. 


Per cent. 


Per cent. 


Per cent. 


52 


21 


I4.8 


48 


24 


20 


40 


12 


I4.6 


36 


12 


14.5 


46 


94 


17.7 



Planting, 

sowing, 

drainage, 

work, wood 

roads, etc. 

Per cent. 

7-5 
6.6 

8.6 

6.4 

10.4 



tensively managed larger forest areas. Judging 
from the results of the state administrations, it 
can be assumed that Germany produces annually 
wood values equal in amount to England's con- 
sumption, namely, somewhat over $100,000,000, or 
$3.00 gross and probably $1.7$ net per acre, from 
soils that are mostly not fit for any other use, and 
which by being so used contribute to other favor- 
able cultural conditions. 

This net income, figured at 3 per cent, would 
make the capital value of soil and growing stock 
nearly $60 per acre, and the value of the entire 
forest resource of Germany 2000 million dollars. 

The revenues have apparently risen with the 
increase of expenditures. In 1850, when Prussia 
expended only 37 cents per acre, her net income 
was 46 cents; in 1901 her expenditure had in- 
creased to $1.43 and her gross revenue to $2.87, 



328 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

although wood prices for the entire Prussian cut of 
300,000,000 cubic feet have in that period advanced 
only 37 per cent ; while Saxony expended 80 cents 
per acre in the beginning of the century and netted 
95 cents, to-day she spends three times the amount 
and has increased her revenue nearly fivefold. 

The table of the distribution of expenditures is 
especially interesting, showing that even in Saxony, 
the very state where the timber is usually cut clean 
and the land restocked entirely by planting with 
nursery stock, the item of planting, etc., uses up 
the smallest portion of the income. 

From this brief outline it will be apparent that 
forestry in its modern sense is not a new, untried 
experiment in Germany, but that care and active 
legislative consideration of the forest wealth dates 
back more than four centuries ; that the accurate 
official records of several states for the last one 
hundred years prove conclusively that wherever a 
systematic, continuous effort has been made, as in 
the case of all state forests, whether of large or 
small territories, the enterprise has been successful ; 
that it has proved of great advantage to the country, 
furnished a handsome revenue where otherwise no 
returns could be expected, led to the establishment 
of permanent woodworking industries, and has 
given opportunity for labor and capital to be active, 
not spasmodically, not speculatively, but continu- 
ously and with assurance of success. This rule 
has, fortunately, not a single exception. To be 



FOREST POLICIES OF FOREIGN NATIONS. 329 

sure, isolated tracts away from railroad or water, 
sand-dunes, and rocky promontories exist in every 
state, and the management of these poor forest 
areas costs all the tract can bring and often more ; 
but the wood is needed, the dune or waste is a 
nuisance, and the state has found it profitable to 
convert it into forest, even though the direct reve- 
nue falls short of the expense. 

The unsatisfactory condition of many of the 
private forests and their uneconomic exploitation, 
due to the speculative spirit developed after the 
Franco-German War, are deplored, exposed, and 
discussed with a view of extending state supervision. 
In Bavaria, in spite of severe prescriptions and in 
spite of the assistance given by the state, which 
distributed 127,000,000 plants during the years 
1 893- 1 899, deforestation is in excess of reforesta- 
tion, and the private forest diminishes. Similarly 
in Prussia during the last twenty years over 75,000 
acres were deforested by private owners, although 
the state here too is exhausting all ameliorative and 
persuasive means, which, however, remain ineffec- 
tive. Hence the state buys the half-wastes, restocks 
them at great expense, and thus public money 
pays for public folly in not restricting ill use of 
forest properties. 

Of extra-European countries and nations, we 
should at least mention Japan, as one that has had 
a forest policy earlier than any of the European 
nations, and has now as efficient and modern ap- 



330 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

paratus to carry it into effect as any, Germany 
hardly excepted. 

It is interesting to note that the historical de- 
velopment of this policy considerably resembles 
Teutonic development under the feudal system. 
During the first century after Christ, and repeat- 
edly during later ones, frequent edicts were issued 
to enforce the planting of watersheds to alleviate 
floods, and the state representatives, the provincial 
princes, from early times took active interest and 
supervised the fellings. 1 

The forests thus protected by strict laws re- 
mained in comparatively good condition, so that 
in 1867, when the great modern change in the 
government of Japan took place, they came into 
imperial hands nearly unimpaired. A department 
of forestry, instituted in 1874, in the department 
of the interior, has the management of the state 
forests, which comprise 17,500,000 acres, or 30 per 
cent of the total forest area of 57,000,000 acres. 
Some of the private forests, namely, those declared 
protection forests, are under supervision. A forest 
academy, according to German models, and at first 
manned by German foresters, was established in 
1882, which in 1890 was incorporated with the 
University at Tokio. 

1 See an interesting historical sketch in Zeitschrift fur das 
gesammte Forstwesen, 1900. 



CHAPTER XL 
FOREST CONDITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

If considered simultaneously from botanical, 
geographical, and economic points of view, the 
forests of North America are unique in the world. 

The forests of the tropics are richer in species ; 
there are contiguous forest areas of greater extent 
in other parts of the world, and other countries 
possess forests of as high economic value. But it 
may be fairly truthfully claimed, that in no part of 
the world is to be found in combination under the 
ownership of one nation, a forest area of so large 
extent, of so high economic value, furnishing such 
a large number of species of such varied useful- 
ness and in such accessible form and condition. 

Geographically and botanically we must differ- 
entiate the country into two absolutely unlike 
types, namely the Atlantic and the Pacific type. 

Practically the entire surface on the Atlantic side 

— west to a meandering line, which follows more 
or less closely the Mississippi Valley and runs no- 
where beyond the ninety-ninth degree of longitude 

— was originally a vast continuous forest compris- 
ing somewhat over one million square miles, or 

33i 



332 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

about 700 million acres, 1 of which less than 40 per 
cent, or less than 300 million acres, have been 
turned into farm lands, and an unknown acreage 
has been culled of its valuable stores of timber, 
ravaged by fire, or turned into useless brush lands. 

The area to the west, almost twice as large, — 
1200 million acres, — is mainly a forestless, often 
treeless area into which .stretch like narrow penin- 
sulas of varying width from the north the forested 
mountain ranges of the Rockies, not exceeding 
100 million acres of woodlands and the forest of 
the Sierras and coast ranges of the Pacific with 
nearly the same acreage. 

The Atlantic forest occupying the humid regions 
of the United States and covering both valleys and 
mountains, composed of a large variety of broad- 
leaved species with conifers intermixed, gradually 
changes to the westward into the prairie country, 
practically forestless, although not treeless, where 
trees and forests of an inferior character are capa- 
ble of growing, but where the grasses are able to 
compete successfully with the arborescent flora. 

To the west of the prairie belt lie the plains 
and semi-arid regions, including deserts, irrigable 

1 The figures used in this chapter lay no claim to statistical ac- 
curacy but are merely rough approximations, sufficient to give a 
general idea of relationships, such as the economist needs. There 
are no accurate data at hand ; when not even the areas of the different 
states are accurately known, official authorities differing widely, it 
is useless to attempt anything but rounded-off figures. 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 333 

valleys, forestless plateaus, and mountains, where 
tree growth is entirely absent or stunted, unless 
artificially fostered. It is into this type of coun- 
try that the Rocky Mountain forest protrudes, of 
coniferous composition, for the most part of in- 
ferior development, except in the more northern 
portion ; and similarly, paralleling the coast from 
north to south, extends the Pacific forest along the 
mountain slopes of the Cascades, Sierra Nevada, 
and Coast Range, practically almost wholly com- 
posed of conifers, often of most magnificent de- 
velopment, with only few broad-leaved species. 

For the purposes of this volume it is not 
necessary to consider the forest conditions of the 
newly acquired outlying dependencies and of the 
far-removed Alaskan territory, except to state that 
the interior of Alaska, being in the main an arid 
country with a short season of vegetation, is 
forested in the manner of such countries, the tree 
growth mostly stunted and open, while the Alaska 
coast forest partakes of the character of the Pacific 
coast forest, with fewer species of conifers (mostly 
only hemlock and spruce) of inferior develop- 
ment. 

The distribution then of forest country and open 
country is most uneven ; three-fourths of the wood- 
lands being concentrated on one side of the conti- 
nent, the remaining fourth being collocated in two 
parcels on the two great mountain systems of the 
other side of the continent. 



334 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

This distribution is, of course, mainly due to 
climatic conditions ; low relative humidity of the 
air and deficiency of water supplies in the soil 
having much to do with the absence of forest cover 
over the larger part of our domain. 

The economic significance of this condition 
comes with the realization that the bulk of the 
best agricultural soils of the United States lies 
within the forestless region, and also that eventu- 
ally the irrigable portion of the arid regions is 
destined to be the richest, dependent on a rational 
management of water supplies, i.e. of the forest 
cover. On the other hand, while undoubtedly the 
productive timber area of this region may be arti- 
ficially extended in a small degree, the main timber 
production of the country will have to be secured 
where nature originally placed it, namely on the 
east side of the continent, where climate favors 
forest growth, and diversity of surface conditions 
differentiates farm and forest soils. Here, where 
the centre of population lies, and with it the bulk 
of consumption, the problems of forestry and of 
timber production need foremost attention. 

So far, of the vast domain of the United States 
(1,900,800,000 acres) not one-fourth is occupied by 
farms ; in most sections of the forest country the 
farm area * falls below 50 per cent and in no state 
does it exceed 84 per cent. A vast area, there- 

J The Census of 1900 gives the farm area as 841,201,000 acres, 
of which, however, only 49.3 per cent are reported as improved. 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 335 

fore, is not yet appropriated to any particular 
use, being wild lands, waste, or under forest. 

The acreage given above would indicate a for- 
ested area of not exceeding 650 million acres, 
namely, the 900 million acres as given above, less 
the improved farm area in the forest country, which 
amounts to about 250 million acres; but it should 
be well understood that this represents merely 
woodlands, areas covered with woody growth, 
which must be very considerably reduced if we 
apply the economic point of view and include only 
areas that contain or can without human aid prod- 
uce timber useful for the arts, — if we discuss, in 
other words, the forest area not as a natural con- 
dition, but as a national resource. 

Not only are large areas, especially in the west- 
ern country, occupied by trees incapable of grow- 
ing to valuable size or quality, but in the eastern 
forest country there are large areas from which all 
valuable growth has been removed by axe and 
fire. These are sometimes turned into actual bar- 
rens or are occupied by useless brush growth, which 
effectually prevents the reestablishment of valu- 
able forest growth without human aid, and hence 
they are for the present withdrawn from useful 
production. 

Trustworthy statistics of the actually produc- 
tive forest area are not in existence, although 
figures have been presented as such by statis- 
ticians without capacity to interpret their mean- 



336 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

ing. We can only attempt rough approximations, 
applying to the data at hand personal knowledge 
and impressions gathered in the field with pro- 
fessional insight. We can readily admit that 
these figures are often far from correct, yet not 
so far but that they give a true conception of the 
general condition of things. 

Applying proper economic considerations, we 
may at once halve the figures given for both the 
Rocky Mountain and the Pacific forest, and re- 
duce that of the Atlantic forest, after deducting 
the actually enumerated farm area by only 10 
per cent, a small allowance to make for actual 
waste lands. 1 We thus arrive at an area of round 
500 million acres as representing the real forest 
resources of the country, a near enough ap- 

1 Some basis for such reductions may be found in information of 
the following kind : — 

The nearest approach to a statistical statement for one of the 
Pacific Coast states, Washington, is made in the Twentieth Report 
of the U. S. Geol. Survey, 1900, Part V, from which it appears, that 
while the area reported as forest by the chief geographer is 47,700 
square miles, only half that acreage is found to contain merchant- 
able timber, of which two-thirds is located in the western one-third 
of the state. Here, of 15,858 square miles, formerly covered with 
merchantable timber, 20 per cent are reported cut and nearly 23 
per cent destroyed by fire. 

For the state of Oregon the same report upon rather insufficient 
data reduces the reported woodland area of 54,300 square miles to 
45,441 of timbered, i.e. economically valuable area. 

A similar survey of one of the Atlantic forest states, Wisconsin, 
described in Bulletin 15, Forestry Division, U. S. Dept. of Agricul- 
ture, 1898, reduces the woodland, reported by the census of 1880, 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 337 

proximation for all practical purposes of the 
economist. 

The larger portion of this area of 500 million 
acres is, however, not to be conceived as filled with 
standing timber ready for the axe, but consists of 
"culled" forest, which means that the merchant- 
able timber of the better kinds has been removed 
more or less closely. 

How nearly this assertion must be true we may 
learn from the simple contemplation of the fact, 
that the constantly increasing population of the 
United States has drawn its wood supplies from 
this area originally of less than 700 million acres, 
without systematic attention to reproduction. If 
we assume that the consumption per capita has 
not been quite as large as it is now (350 cubic feet), 
although there is not much reason for such assump- 
tion, and add up the population annually calling 
for such supplies since the year 1780 only, we find 
that not less than 2,500 million people have had 
their annual requirements satisfied ; that means a 
total of not less than 600 to 700 billion cubic feet. 

from 31,750 square miles to about 26,904, of which nearly 50 per 
cent is " cut over, largely burned over and waste brush lands, and 
one-half of this as nearly desert as it can become in the climate of 
Wisconsin." 

From such statements it will appear that the method of arriving 
at the forest acreage, used by Mr. Gannett, chief geographer, in the 
Nineteenth Report of the U. S. Geol. Survey, namely to deduct the 
farm area of twenty years ago from the total land area, leads to no 
useful result for purposes of the economist, 
z 



338 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Taking into consideration the wasteful use of tim- 
ber, — the log-rolling fires in clearing for farm use, 
owing to the lack of market, — we may assume that 
less than half of this consumption was secured 
from these farm areas, the other part necessitating 
the culling of certainly 300 million acres, so that 
hardly 200 million acres containing merchantable 
timber may remain, even if we make allowance 
for aftergrowth. Comparing this probability cal- 
culation with the amount of standing timber, given 
on page 52, as an extravagant estimate, this area 
would have to contain an average of 10,000 feet 
B.M., or 2000 cubic feet of such wood as we 
use, which is not likely to be the case, or at least 
questionable. 

This area, moreover, is continually reduced by 
fire and by clearing for farm purposes, as the 
change of improved farm areas in the forested 
states from census year to census year shows, 
namely, an increase of about 25 million acres each 
decade in round figures. Some abandoned farms 
in New England, and in the South, to be sure, 
are gradually returning to forest growth, but these 
additions are small in proportion to the farm in- 
crease. Nevertheless, taking the forested area 
actually grown or growing to timber, in good, bad, 
or indifferent condition, it represents in the forest 
country of the Atlantic side still 40 to 45 per 
cent of the total land area, while about 20 to 25 
per cent may be set down as waste lands. 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 339 

The productive forest area of the western coun- 
try may be stated as not exceeding 14 per cent. 
For the whole country the woodland area according 
to the United States Chief Geographer, whose dis- 
cussions on these questions contain many misstate- 
ments and misconceptions, represents 37 per cent ; 
according to the writer's conception of what may be 
considered forest area, it is not much over 26 per 
cent. This acreage of round 500 million acres 
under proper management would barely be capable 
of supplying continuously the present annual wood 
consumption of the people of the United States, 
which, as we have seen on page 51, amounts to 
about 25,000 million cubic feet; while we esti- 
mated that the virgin supplies still standing may 
be able to satisfy the present consumption for 
perhaps 40 to 50 years. 

The immediate inauguration of conservative 
treatment, of recuperative measures, and of proper 
economies in the use of wood may, therefore, be 
able to avert serious discomforts to be expected 
from a shortage in wood supplies, provided there 
be no increase in consumption, or perhaps even 
a proportionate reduction, as the population in- 
creases, which as we have seen in Chapter II. is 
possible. So far the census statistics record an 
increase of wood consumption, in values at least, 
of a round 30 per cent for every decade, and hence 
the economies, as well as the conservative and 
recuperative treatment, should be begun now. 



340 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

The ownership of the forest area will largely 
determine how far such conservative treatment 
may be expected. 

Governments, which are logically conservative 
managers of their properties, own in the United 
States as yet only an insignificant acreage. Thanks 
to the forest reservation policy, inaugurated in 
1 89 1, the federal government has reserved and 
continues to reserve and exclude from sale or other 
disposal some of the public domain, which still 
comprises over 500,000,000 acres. 

It is uncertain how much of this acreage is for- 
est covered. There are somewhat over 10,000,000 
acres still held in the Eastern states, largely swamp 
lands and forest, while for the Western states, 
Mr. F. H. Newell, a few years ago, 1 estimated the 
public lands open for entry as follows : — 

Brush lands 96,000,000. 

Timber forest 70,000,000. 

Desert 69,000,000. 

Grazing land 374,000,000. 

Since under the existing construction of the land 
laws, the timber lands on the Pacific coast may be 
entered as agricultural lands, and since the lumber 
business of that region in the last few years has been 
greatly extended, it is fair to assume that by such 
entries the timber forest area of the public domain 
has been considerably reduced from that estimate. 

The forest reservations made by the federal 

1 U. S. Geol. Survey, Ann. Rep. 1894. 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 341 

government to July 1, 1902, comprise an acreage of 
nearly 60 million acres, hardly more than 1 per 
cent of the public domain, but it is well known that 
a considerable portion of these reservations is not 
timber land; they include brush lands, grazing 
lands, and desert. 

In fact the examinations by agents of the United 
States Geological Survey indicate that of about 12 
million acres examined, not more than 30 per cent 
contains merchantable timber, and the amount of 
such timber is estimated at not to exceed 24 billion 
feet B.M. In other words, on this vast area can- 
not be found one year's requirement for the whole 
United States, or six years' supply for the mills now 
operating in the Western states. There is no reason 
to suppose that the rest of the federal reserves are 
much better timbered, for the examined portions 
seem to represent fairly well average conditions ; 
hence, the forest reservation policy of the govern- 
ment, as far as the supply question for the country 
at large is concerned, has not, and indeed cannot, 
alleviate matters very much. Even if all the tim- 
ber lands now in possession of the federal govern- 
ment were withdrawn from entry, — and it is a short- 
sighted policy not to have done so long ago, — such 
reservation would bear on local conditions of supply 
only. But, indeed, for the welfare of the West- 
ern states, the inauguration of the forest reservation 
policy is of the utmost importance ; not only from 
the timber supply point of view, but especially with 



342 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

regard to the question of water supply. The val- 
leys of the West being, for the use of their almost 
inexhaustible fertility, dependent upon irrigation 
waters, the water conserving capacity of a well- 
kept forest cover is indispensable, and in this direc- 
tion even the brush lands are of value. 

It would be only rational that the extensive plans 
for the development of irrigation systems in the 
West should include the rapid withdrawal from 
entry of all the mountain forest and brush lands, 
and their rational treatment with the main object 
of preserving the soil cover. 

In the Eastern states, the single state govern- 
ments alone may carry out a similar reservation 
policy, and indeed the beginnings have been made 
here and there. 

The state of New York owns nearly one and 
one-quarter million acres with the avowed purpose 
of increasing the acreage of state forest ; the state 
of Pennsylvania has entered upon the policy of 
acquiring state forest, and several other states are 
at least discussing the propriety of such ownership. 
But the majority of the states have not yet 
waked up to their obligation in this respect, and com- 
munities, like villages, towns, cities, counties, which 
so often in Europe derive acceptable income from 
forest properties, have not yet considered such a 
policy, hence the forest areas are nearly entirely in 
private hands. 

As to the character of this private ownership and 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 343 

the distribution among different classes of owners, 
we are without data. The census of 1880 gave a 
statement of the ownership by farmers of 200 mill- 
ion acres in wood lots. This would mostly repre- 
sent a conservative ownership, although farmers 
do not always treat their timber lots as intelligently 
as they might ; but it is quite certain that much of 
this acreage has since passed into the hands of 
lumbermen and wood-working establishments. 1 

Among these we must discern between the 
jobbers, who merely buy stumpage, i.e. the timber 
without the land, who, therefore, take no interest 
in the future of either, and hence are least con- 
servative in their treatment of the forest, and the 
land-owning class, who are apt to take more 
thought of what may become of their holdings. It 
is, however, only very lately that this interest ex- 
tends in the direction of conservative lumbering 
and of keeping the forest as such productive ; in 
most cases the policy of "skinning" is still the 
usual one, that means culling out the merchantable 
material, with a very variable result as regards the 
condition in which the forest is left. Sometimes, 
as when the spruce or pine is cut out from the 
mixed hardwood forest, its absence may be hardly 
noticed by the layman, the forest cover is little 
interrupted, and the scattered debris sooner or 

1 The value of wood products, cut on farmers' wood lots, was 
found by the census of 1900 to amount to less than 120 million 
dollars. 



344 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

later decomposes, but the composition is surely 
altered in the old timber as well as in the young 
aftergrowth. Where the soft woods, which are 
the most valuable and the most easily removed by 
water transportation, had occupied a larger portion 
of the mixed forest, or were found in pure stands, 
or where hardwoods are lumbered, the case is less 
hopeful for the future, the accumulation of debris 
prevents largely a reproduction of valuable species, 
and the succession is of inferior kinds and shrubs, 
especially as the valuable seed trees have been either 
entirely removed or greatly reduced. Sooner or 
later fires run through the slashing, and if repeated 
may destroy not only all the struggling after- 
growth, but the humus, the soil itself, and so 
render . the land practically useless for genera- 
tions. 

Sometimes a fire at the right time may, however, 
have done good by reducing the slash, and, if seed 
trees were left uncut in the neighborhood, a de- 
sirable aftergrowth may have established itself, 
which but for a repetition of the fire would grow 
into desirable timber. 

In late years the severity of the culling pro- 
cess has greatly increased, since with improved 
means of transportation and reduced supplies 
smaller sizes have become marketable ; as a 
result the chances of a valuable aftergrowth are 
greatly diminished, and most of the logged areas 
of to-day, differing from those of twenty or thirty 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 345 

years ago, are doomed to non-productive condition 
for generations. 

The owners of expensive permanent mill estab- 
lishments, relying on timber supply, are naturally 
more interested in a continuity of local supplies 
than those who can readily change their location 
when the supplies in one locality are exhausted. 

Hence such manufactures as the paper-pulp in- 
dustry will become or are already interested in 
more conservative use of their holdings. 

Lately, as in all commercial enterprises, a ten- 
dency has developed in the lumber industry to con- 
solidate forest properties and form trusts, which 
own many thousands or even millions of acres of 
forest land. 

Such trusts may be and probably are mostly 
formed for the immediate financial advantages ac- 
cruing from combination, but they could, and, if 
they consulted their true interests, would, practise 
a more conservative treatment of their timber and 
introduce forestry methods, which would prove in 
the end the wisest continual financial policy. 

Trusts, therefore, properly organized for con- 
tinuous business, may prove next to governments 
the most hopeful agencies for practising forestry, 
since they can control large areas under uniform 
and continuous policy. 

Another class of conservative owners of forest 
property is coming to the fore, namely, wealthy 
capitalists, who can see the financial advantages of 



346 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

the future in forest properties, and are able to 
hold such properties until developments surround- 
ing them will make their conservative use under 
forestry methods possible. 

Others, including sporting associations, are own- 
ing forest properties for other than economic pur- 
poses. These, too, are naturally conservative, and 
when forestry practice is established in this country, 
will probably learn that their pleasure need not 
suffer by applying such practice to their properties 
and deriving financial benefits from them as well. 

As we have seen in previous chapters, forestry 
is profitable only in the long run and on large 
areas ; it is a business which contemplates continu- 
ity for a long period, hence the more our forest 
resources pass into the hands of perpetual cor- 
porations and wealthy owners, the more hopeful 
is their fate. 

For a thorough understanding and discussion of 
the economic aspects of our forest areas, we ought 
to know, not only the extent of forest cover, and 
the character and condition of the forest growth, 
but its distribution over the different soils and 
topographic conditions, when it may be determined 
what areas are naturally to be kept in forest, and 
what areas must by necessity be turned into farm 
lands ; where the protective feature requires greater 
care in their management, or where they may be 
left to their fate. 

It will have appeared that in speaking of the 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 347 

forest areas from the supply point of view, we 
keep in mind that not only the old crop, the virgin 
timber ready for the axe, but also the young crop, 
the aftergrowth of valuable kinds, should be consid- 
ered as timber-producing area, and even the bare 
soil itself, if it is only left in condition to recuper- 
ate, and to reproduce naturally valuable species in 
a reasonable time. 

As far as mere soil cover is concerned, the value- 
less species and even the brush lands may suffice 
to furnish protection and perform the functions, at 
least in part, of the timber forest ; yet even here, 
in order to make the best use of the soil in the 
household of a nation, it becomes necessary to 
eradicate the weeds and favor the useful species. 

As we have intimated before, there are weeds 
among trees as well as among the lower vegetation. 
Indeed, of the 500 species of arborescent growth 
of which we can boast in our woods, there are 
hardly more than 70 which deserve the forester's 
attention, although we may expand the number of 
useful ones to 100 or more, since in the absence of 
some better material, even the poor Lodge-pole 
Pine of the West, covering thousands of square 
miles, the Black Jack of the barrens, and the Scrub 
Pines of the sandy coast become valuable, at least 
for firewood. 

In the markets, where the finer botanical distinc- 
tions into species are neglected, it would be diffi- 
cult to find as many as fifty native woods quoted. 



348 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Some of these, which we now use simply because 
they can be had, since nature grew them without 
counting the cost or considering that a better ma- 
terial might have been grown with as much ease, 
will be discarded by the forester. They will not 
be grown again consciously by man's aid. Never- 
theless, with all these eliminations, there remains a 
large number of highly valuable species for which 
the chances of perpetuation are to be prepared by 
the forester. 

The most important furnishers of timber are the 
conifers : pines, spruces, firs, hemlocks, cedars, 
larch, and cypress, usually in commerce called soft 
woods in contradistinction to the broad-leaved 
trees, designated as hardwoods, 1 although both 
groups contain both hard and soft woods. 

Our flora excels especially in a great variety of 
pines, those most useful trees of the temperate 
zone, of which we can boast at least ten timber- 
producing species, three softwooded white pines 
and seven hardwooded yellow pines, besides not 
less than twenty-five scrub-pines, useful to occupy 
the least favorable dry soils. 

Of other conifers the Red and Black Spruce of 
the Northeast, the Bald Cypress of the South, and 
the Douglas or Red Fir, Redwood, and Sugar Pine 
of the West are the most prominent staples, the 
others being of minor importance. 

Among the hardwoods the oaks are perhaps the 

1 This distinction has received sanction in the courts. 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 349 

most useful, and here again we can boast of a great 
variety, classified botanically and according to their 
wood in two groups, the white oaks and black oaks, 
of which not less than a dozen are large-sized tim- 
ber trees, and some twenty or thirty perform simi- 
lar service as the pines in covering barrens. Next 
in importance may be placed the ashes, two impor- 
tant species, the hickories with five interchangeable 
timber species, the maples with four marketable 
species, and the Tulip Tree or Whitewood, the giant 
tree of the East, besides Chestnut, Red Gum, Bass- 
wood, elms, birches, and the rarer Walnut and Cherry 
for ornamental woodwork, with a number of others. 
The relative importance of these woods, and 
hence of the forest regions in which they are 
found, may be learned from the estimated distribu- 
tion of the annual cut as it appeared in the census 
year 1890. 1 This total annual cut, including all 
material requiring bolt or log size, estimated at round 
40,000 million feet B.M., 1 was approximately made 
up of the following kinds and quantities : — 

Billion feet 
B.M. 

White Pine 12 

Spruce and Fir ........ 5 

1 These figures are not census statistics, which are always short 
of the truth, but estimates based upon census data and other 
information, rounded off to include unenumerated amounts ; they 
approximate relative conditions averaged for a series of years. The 
present actual cut must be somewhat larger than this approxima- 
tion, since the Census of 1900 places the sawed product alone at 
35,000 million feet B.M. 



350 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Billion feet 
B.M. 

Hemlock 4 

LongleafPine 4 

Shortleaf and Loblolly Pine ... 3 

Cypress 0.5 

Redwood 0.5 

All other conifers 1 

or altogether 30,000 million feet of coniferous ma- 
terial, leaving for all the hardwoods 10,000 million 
feet, of which the oaks furnished 3000 million feet. 

The largest part of the cut was furnished by the 
Southern states and the Lake Region, each with 
13,000 million feet, New England and the North 
Atlantic states furnishing 6000 million, the hard- 
wood region of the Central states 5000 million, the 
Pacific states 4000 million, the rest, of 2000 million 
feet, coming from scattered localities. 

Since that time the general relation of the dif- 
ferent regions has remained the same, but the rela- 
tive amounts have changed, the White Pine cut of 
the Lake Region has been considerably reduced 
owing to waning supplies, the Southern and Pacific 
coast cut has been increased. (For further statis- 
tics, see Appendix.) 

Our principal and most important supplies, then, 
are found in the White Pine of the lake states and the 
yellow pines of the Gulf and South Atlantic states. 

The Atlantic forest, as we have stated, is essen- 
tially a forest of deciduous-leaved trees, in which 
the conifers occur mixed or in small bodies. Only 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 35 I 

where the soil becomes sandy, the drainage being 
rapid, are to be found extensive pineries composed 
of these frugal species to the exclusion of the more 
fastidious hardwoods. In the rich loamy soils of 
the central agricultural states — Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
nois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri — the coni- 
fers are of less importance or mostly entirely absent, 
the hardwoods in greatest variety and most excel- 
lent development occupying the ground exclusively. 
The North Atlantic forest, north and east of this 
purely hardwood region, originally contained every- 
where the valuable White Pine among the oaks and 
maples, Beech, and Basswood, to which farther 
north the Yellow Birch, replacing the oaks, is asso- 
ciated. But now the merchantable pine areas of 
importance are confined to the northern part of 
Wisconsin and Minnesota, with a remnant in Mich- 
igan, although some scattered pine, especially young 
growth, is found in all the other Northeastern states, 
and small bodies of old timber on the Alleghanies 
even as far south as North Carolina. Similarly, 
hemlock is distributed over the whole area, but the 
large bodies are mainly confined to western New 
York and Pennsylvania, soon to be exhausted, while 
the spruce, so much prized for paper-pulp, is found 
in quantities mainly in the northern New England 
states and the Adirondacks of northern New York. 
The northern parts of this white pine region 
furnish also a valuable yellow pine, the so-called 
Red or Norway Pine, which is often included in the 



352 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

estimates of White Pine, although its quality is quite 
different. 

So important a part does the White Pine play in 
our timber supply that speculation as to the amount 
available has occupied the mind of the lumber 
world for many years. The census of 1880 at- 
tempted to secure an estimate of timber standing 
at that time ; the estimates then published indicat- 
ing twenty years' supply at once showed their 
influence upon price for stumpage and upon stand- 
ards of merchantable material. 

By reduction of this standard, by increase of 
means of transportation, by more careful cutting, 
sawing, grading, and handling, and partly by new 
growth, the supplies have been considerably length- 
ened, so that in 1897 the writer, compiling later 
estimates, 1 could still find in the three main white- 
pine-producing states nearly 40,000 million feet, 
which with a greatly reduced cut will last a few 
years longer, when the king of the woods will 
have been reduced to an inferior rank. 

In the same document the supplies of all conif- 
erous interchangeable material, standing ready 
for the axe in the Northern states, was estimated 
at a round 100,000 million feet, while the annual 
cut at that time was placed at round 18,000 million 
feet. Since then the conception of what is mer- 
chantable timber has greatly changed, small-sized 

1 See Senate Document, No. 40, 55th Congress, 1st session, 1897, 
" White Pine Timber Supplies." 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 353 

logs and small-sized trees have become salable, the 
cut, at least of White Pine, has been considerably 
diminished, and hence supplies will last still for 
years to come. In addition, on the areas which in 
earlier years had been culled less severely, the trees 
that were left have put on growth sufficient to 
become marketable (second growth !); and occasion- 
ally also natural volunteer reproduction has come, 
furnishing new supplies. 

Nevertheless, even if the estimates were doubled 
and quadrupled, the time of practical exhaustion 
of this resource will be upon us before recuperative 
measures have been fairly started. 

The Southern forest, although showing greater 
variety and number of species, does not add many 
hardwood species of economic value, which are not 
represented in the Northern forest. But in conif- 
erous species it furnishes invaluable supplies by 
a group of hardwooded yellow pines, the Bald Cy- 
press, and to a lesser extent the Pencil Cedar or 
Juniper. 

The sandy soils in which the Southern states 
along the Atlantic and Gulf coast abound are occu- 
pied by vast pineries, in which for hundreds and 
thousands of square miles the hardwood species are 
almost absent except in the loamy hummocks and 
river-bottoms. The most important and valuable of 
these pines is the Longleaf or Georgia Pine, which 
predominates over the largest area in a belt paral- 
leling the coast from North Carolina to eastern 

2A 



354 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Texas, varying in width from 60 to 1 50 miles. In 
its southern range it is joined by the Cuban Pine, 
of equal or even greater value, although in the 
market not differentiated, and by the Loblolly Pine ; 
in its northern range it extends into the mixed 
forest which covers a belt of 20 to 60 miles more, 
in which the Longleaf Pine is associated with Short- 
leaf Pine, in the market called North Carolina Pine, 
with Loblolly or Oldfield Pine (called Virginia 
Pine), and with hardwoods. 

North of this belt of mixed forest the pine area is 
increased by the Shortleaf Pine, occasionally asso- 
ciated with the Loblolly, occupying the sandy soils. 
Although the Longleaf and Cuban pines are supe- 
rior in quality, the other two have not much less 
value and application in the arts, being often sub- 
stituted ; and hence we can consider the whole pine 
belt as a unity, an area of about 150,000,000 acres, 
within which these pines do or did occur in mer- 
chantable quantities. Deducting the farm area and 
making allowance for hardwood areas interspersed 
between the pineries, the pine-producing area is 
probably not quite two-thirds of the area of distri- 
bution, or round 90,000,000 acres. The available 
supplies of standing timber were estimated by the 
writer seven years ago at between 200,000 and 
300,000 million feet. At that time the annual cut 
exceeded 7,000 million feet, and as it has con- 
stantly and rapidly increased, the waning white- 
pine supplies stimulating the Southern lumber in- 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 355 

dustry, it is probably safe to reduce this stand by at 
least 70,000 million, so that at best, less than the 
lower estimate is remaining to satisfy a demand 
of now over 10,000 million feet annually. 

We must again and again accentuate that these 
figurings are neither mathematics nor statistics in 
the sense of the enumerator, but are calculations 
of possibilities or probabilities sufficiently close to 
give an insight into the general situation. By 
changing standards, by cutting more closely, by 
avoiding waste in logging and sawing, by avoiding 
extravagance in the use of the materials, we may 
lengthen the time during which these stores may 
last, but unless they are replaced by reproduction, 
they must give out within much less time than it 
takes to grow a log tree, for the timber which we 
now cut is mostly 1 50 to 300 years and more old, 
and none of these pines make suitable sawlogs in 
less than 60 to 120 years. 

What under prevailing practices the chance for 
spontaneous natural reproduction and the condition 
of the cut-over areas are, may be learned from read- 
ing the excellent monograph on "The Southern 
Pines," by Dr. Charles Mohr. 1 The practice of 
annual firing of the woods, to improve the grazing, 
has in most places effectually prevented renewal 
of the pines. 

One of the forest industries using a by-product, 

lJ 'The Timber Pines of the Southern United States," Bulletin 
No. 13, Division of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1896. 



356 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

which is derived from bleeding the Longleaf Pine, 
the naval store industry, producing now values to 
the amount of $20,000,000 per annum, has also 
done much to reduce supplies and reproduction. 
While it might have been carried on, as it is in 
France, without injury to timber or young growth, 
the crude methods employed have destroyed much 
timber before the saw miller was ready to use it, and 
much more has fallen a prey to the destructive fires 
which have followed the turpentine gatherer. 

Besides the pines there is found in the swamps 
of the Southern states another valuable conifer, 
the Bald Cypress. The area occupied by this 
species is naturally small, and with an annual cut 
which may now be much more than 5,000,000 feet, 
it can be soon exhausted, and the reproduction, 
which is naturally less ready on lands under water 
for several months in the year, may be counted as 
nil. 

Of hardwoods we have large areas throughout 
the entire Atlantic forest, and as our consump- 
tion is relatively small, and the hardwoods repro- 
duce readily, their future is easily provided for. 
In the more settled parts of the New England and 
North Atlantic states and on the northern Appa- 
lachians of Pennsylvania and New York, the timber 
forest of hardwoods has mostly been supplanted 
by the coppice, producing only firewood and small 
dimensions, but it will be an easy task to change it 
back into timber forest. 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 357 

It is in the coniferous materials that we are 
most concerned, for they form three-fourths of our 
consumption, and their reproduction in competition 
with the hardwoods and the fires is not promising. 

Some ignorant people — ignorant both as to re- 
quirements of the wood industries and as to the 
condition and character of our forest resources — 
have claimed that the natural growth of young 
trees, without any attention, following the opera- 
tions of lumbermen, would suffice to replace that 
which is removed and would continue to furnish 
the required material. 

The observant student, not to speak of the pro- 
fessional forester, can readily see that culling the 
valuable kinds and leaving the inferior tree weeds 
in possession of the soil almost entirely prevents in 
many cases reproduction of the valuable species. 
In other cases where the production of valuable 
kinds does take place, as, for instance, with the 
Southern pines, whenever the young growth is 
not killed by fires, the development is so unsatis- 
factory, that where with proper attention a new 
crop might be available in seventy to a hundred 
years, twice the time will be required to make 
clear timber of quality. In most cases recurring 
fires retard this natural re-growth still further or 
prevent it altogether. 

Of the character and conditions of the Western 
forests we have almost more detailed information 
than of the Atlantic forest, thanks to the various 



358 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

government surveys and railroad-land cruisings, and 
the examinations of the federal forest reservations 
by agents of the United States Geological Survey. 
These forests are all coniferous, the broad-leaved 
trees playing an insignificant part, although the 
Pacific Coast forests contain some valuable oak, 
ash, and maple. The Western forests are mainly 
confined to the mountain slopes, varying in char- 
acter with latitude and altitude, i.e. with the varia- 
tion in moisture and temperature conditions. We 
have seen that probably 50 per cent of the wood- 
land area may be ruled out from consideration 
as timber producing, so that roughly only round 
100,000,000 acres remain for that purpose, one- 
half on the Rocky Mountains, the other half on 
the Pacific coast. If this were all untouched, we 
might have found for the Rocky Mountain forest 
a stand of not exceeding 200,000 million and for 
the Pacific coast forest 1,000,000 million feet, 
but from these stores during our occupation of 
these territories at least 200,000,000 people have 
drawn their annual requirement of probably not 
less than 500 feet, and that in a wasteful- manner ; 
a large amount of material has been exported to 
neighboring states and across the sea, and a still 
larger amount has been destroyed by fire, so that, 
gathering indications from the reports of the Geo- 
logical Survey, the amount of standing timber, ac- 
cording to present standards and under present 
methods of utilization, will probably be less than 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 359 

700,000 million feet. It must be understood, that 
especially on the Pacific coast, where lumbering is 
carried on not merely to supply local wants but for 
export, the most wasteful use of the timber is 
forced upon the lumberman by the destructive 
competition, the distance from market, with high 
freight rates, reducing the material actually market- 
able by 50 to 80 per cent and more below Eastern 
standards, the merchantable diameter limit in the 
Puget Sound regions being at present twenty-two 
inches. Even in the Black Hills, in lumbering the 
pine of the forest reserve, mostly for local use, it 
has been estimated that 50 per cent of each tree cut 
for lumber is left in the woods, fully one and one- 
half cord for every thousand feet utilized. 

Throughout the Rocky Mountain forest the hard- 
wooded Yellow or Bull Pine is the most important 
tree, often occurring in pure stands as on the plateau 
forest of Arizona. To this are joined the Douglas 
or Red Fir, becoming more prevalent and better 
developed toward the north, the Engelman Spruce 
and several other inferior spruces and firs, and 
occasionally a hemlock. 

Toward the north, in Idaho, where the timber 
improves in development and the forest in density, 
a white pine, the Silver Pine, and a larch of pro- 
digious dimensions, form most valuable stands, 
together with the Giant Cedar. Thousands of 
square miles are covered with the Lodge-pole Pine 
in pure stands almost entirely useless for timber, 



360 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

although furnishing fire wood and small dimension 
material. Thousands of square miles of the high 
elevations are occupied by the Subalpine Fir and 
scrubby pines of no commercial value ; in addition 
fire has not only damaged but destroyed thousands 
of square miles. 

The following figures abstracted from the United 
States Geological Report cited are illustrative. In 
the Priest Forest Reserve, which comprises about 
iooo square miles, of which 850 were found timber- 
producing, at least 70 per cent of the timber once 
standing is estimated as destroyed by fires dur- 
ing the last thirty years, a loss in value of over 
$100,000,000. "Excepting a small area of about 
1600 acres along the Lower West Fork, there is 
no body of timber of 1000 acres or even 500 acres 
extent not scorched by fire. In the lower zones 
there are over 200,000 acres on which the destruc- 
tion is practically complete. In the subalpine 
zone at least 40,000 of the 60,000 acres have been 
more or less injured by fire." 

In the Bitterroot Reserve, which contains over 
4,000,000 acres, of 1,000,000 acres examined only 
60 per cent was found wooded, half with the com- 
paratively valueless Lodge-pole Pine, 20 per cent 
with inferior Red Fir, and only 30 per cent with the 
valuable Yellow Pine, over 20 per cent of the origi- 
nal stand having been destroyed by fire in the last 
forty years. 

On the east slopes of the Cascades and Sierras 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 361 

and throughout the Interior Basin arid conditions 
prevail, and hence wherever forest areas occur, 
the trees stand open and are stunted, and gener- 
ally of no commercial value. Yet the open pine 
forest of the Blue Mountains, of the slopes and 
plateau of eastern Oregon, made up of Bull Pine, 
furnishes at least a welcome local timber supply ; 
and the northern part of Washington, where 
moisture conditions improve, shows the effect in 
permitting an extension of the Rocky Mountain 
forest type of northern Idaho, with Bull Pine and 
Silver Pine of commercial value accompanying the 
comparatively valueless Lodge-pole Pine. 

The Pacific coast forest presents four types. 
The northern type, covering the west slope of the 
Cascade and the Coast ranges through Washington 
and Oregon, derives its value mainly from the 
Douglas or Red Fir, and is characterized both by 
density of stand and individual development and 
by dense undergrowth in response to the great 
humidity of the climate. Associated with the fir is 
found a hemlock of not much inferior develop- 
ment, but at present left unused, and the Giant 
Cedar. In the higher elevations some excellent true 
firs, Silver Pine, Engelman, and other spruces add 
variety, and along the seashore the Sitka Spruce 
and Port Orford Cedar of limited distribution, while 
Yellow or Bull Pine occupies the sandy flats and 
drier slopes. In its extension over the Coast Range 
of California the type changes somewhat, although 



362 ECONOIvIICS OF FORESTRY. 

the same species are present and the density is 
alike, but the Redwood, congener to the Big Tree, is 
added, and, in its narrow, long belt of distribution 
from Oregon to the Santa Cruz Mountains, replaces 
in importance the Douglas Fir, which seems to 
lose in value in its more southern range. 

The extension of the Cascade forest over the 
Sierra Nevada shows a much greater change, al- 
though the same species continue in the composi- 
tion with the same magnificent development, but 
the Sugar Pine, a congener of the Michigan White 
Pine, of ponderous development, is added and be- 
comes the main and most valuable timber tree, and 
the forest grows open, the undergrowth more scanty. 
Here the giant Big Trees occur in occasional groves, 
of historic interest more than of commercial value. 

Toward the south, both on the Coast Range and 
on the Sierra, the value of timber growth greatly 
diminishes, becoming reduced in size, the stand 
opening more and more ; finally, in the southern 
ranges of the San Gabriel, San Bernardino, and 
San Jacinto mountains, the timber of value, Yellow 
and Sugar Pine and Red Fir, occurs only in groves 
among the brush and chaparral which covers most 
of the dry slopes. 

We have seen that the timber-producing area of 
this Pacific coast forest may not be estimated at 
more than round 60,000,000 acres, containing 
somewhat over 600,000 million feet of merchant- 
able timber. Upon the basis of a compilation of 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 363 

timber cruisings of railroad companies, the United 
States Chief Geographer has for the states of 
Washington and Oregon placed the merchantable 
timber at less than 350,000 million feet on 
38,000,000 acres, which appears to us a rather 
low estimate even with the high standard at pres- 
ent prevailing. Timber cruisings are usually from 
20 to 50 per cent below the actualities. 

The writer still believes that it would be per- 
fectly safe for purposes of this general discussion 
to raise this estimate 20 per cent, and, applying the 
same stumpage for California on a timber-produc- 
ing area of 18,000,000 acres, to arrive at the above 
figure, leaving 180,000 million feet of the amount 
credited to the Western states on page 52 to be 
found in the Rocky Mountains and scattered 
regions of the West. 

Indeed, with a change in standards and in log- 
ging practice, and especially with a more rational 
utilization of all the useful timber, this estimate 
may readily be doubled or even trebled, as the 
writer had done in the Senate document cited, 
when comparing supplies with the consumption of 
the whole country. 

Since the cut of lumber in the Pacific coast 
states does not exceed at present 5,000,000,000 
feet, no immediate apprehension regarding supplies 
would be justified. Yet, when we find that the 
value of the mill-product of the three states in- 
creased according to the census from $8,000,000 in 



364 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

1880 to $30,000,000 in 1890, and to $54,000,000 
in 1900, the security for the future is not as assured 
as the mathematical statistician figures out from 
the given data, especially since it is well known 
that forest fires keep in check useful reproduction 
and also consume or make useless considerable 
quantities of standing timber. (See note on 
page 336.) 

Unsatisfactory as is our statistical knowledge 
of our forest resources, it is sufficient to arouse 
most serious apprehension as to future supplies. 
We have, in. the forests of the United States out- 
side of Alaska, a supply of coniferous material 
most unevenly distributed and not exceeding 
1,200,000 million feet to satisfy a demand of at 
present 30,000 million feet per annum and con- 
stantly growing. Even if the estimates of supplies 
were doubled, and if fires were stopped, it must be 
evident to any student of the field that the repro- 
duction, left to nature alone, cannot replace in time 
our requirements. 

The argument for the adoption of immediate 
recuperative and conservative measures from the 
supply point of view, in which the writer for a 
quarter century has used his breath and pen 
with indifferent result, would appear well sus- 
tained. 

Small beginnings toward the solution of the prob- 
lems which arise from this condition of things have 
been made, but the importance of the forestry 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 365 

movement has by no means been fully and gener- 
ally realized, as we shall see in the next chapter; 
the difficulty of changing existing usages, lines of 
procedure, and modes of thought require unusual 
effort and require time. 

For the future, it is in the end of much more 
importance to know the acreage available for 
timber growing and the capacity of production of 
that acreage than the actually available supplies. 
These, no matter how large, every intelligent man 
will admit, must sooner or later be exhausted, and 
we must rely upon the reproduction. The present 
acreage must, to be sure, change until all agricul- 
turally available lands have been turned into farms 
and all lands unfit for farming have been turned 
back into forest growth. 

But if we accept as mere indications of possibili- 
ties the present acreage of timber land on the At- 
lantic side as 400,000,000 acres, and assume that it 
can be made to produce at the same rate as the 
German forests under good management, it would 
be able to supply continuously the present con- 
sumption of 25,000,000,000 cubic feet. 

The most important, most immediately needful 
change in thought and practice, without which 
forestry, the provision for future supplies, cannot 
be practically applied, is that in regard to forest 
fires. Forest fires are the bane of the forests of the 
United States — the most destructive agency ; for 
while, with the exception of the Western forests, 



366 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

the yearly conflagrations destroy comparatively 
small amounts of standing timber, they kill the 
young growth, the hope of the future, and destroy 
even the soil, the fertility, an accumulation of cen- 
turies of decaying leaf-mould. 

In comparison with our figures of bona fide con- 
sumption the direct loss of material through fires 
would appear, from such incomplete statistics as 
are at hand, as a small matter, perhaps 2 to 3 per 
cent of the total value of forest products, but the 
indirect loss can hardly be overestimated ; besides, 
the seeming impotency of coping with this destruc- 
tive agency discourages more conservative forest 
management on the part of forest owners, who 
are, under the circumstances, naturally induced to 
shorten the risk and turn into cash as quickly as 
possible what is valuable in the forest growth, leav- 
ing the balance to its fate. 

That, with the reckless exploitation of our virgin 
woods, accompanied by these forest fires, which 
have become notorious throughout the world, not 
only timber supplies have been decimated, but the 
protective function of the forest cover on moun- 
tain slopes has been considerably injured in many 
places, goes without saying. 

Although it is even more difficult to adduce defi- 
nite data regarding this influence, the argument of 
the pernicious influence of forest destruction on 
waterflow and loss of soil has found much more 
ready ears among the public. 



FOREST CONDITIONS. 367 

Indeed it is often used in the most absurd, 
extravagant, and unintelligent manner. 

In the Eastern forest, especially the mountain 
forest, wholesale denudation is comparatively rare, 
since the lumberman usually culls merely; repro- 
duction at least of a shrubby vegetation is most 
rapid, and there would be little danger of losing the 
protective cover through lumbering operations if 
the fires were kept out. 

Even if a fire goes through the slash, it is not 
many years before a new vegetation has established 
itself, and only repeated fires can produce a real 
denudation. 

The effects are, of course, variable according to 
a variety of circumstances and conditions, the time 
of occurrence of the fires, the amount of debris to 
feed the flames, the character of the soil and its 
cover, etc. 

While the mountain forests on the Atlantic side 
show only here and there really serious detriment 
to soil and soil cover due to lumbering operations 
and fires, injudicious clearing for farm use and 
improper management of farm lands are much 
more frequently the causes of undue erosion and 
soil washes. 

Signs of the deleterious influences of undue 
deforestation are visible in all parts of the Eastern 
United States, and a chapter could readily be filled 
with detailed descriptions of regions which have 
especially suffered. 



368 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Sand-dunes have been created by forest removal 
on all parts of our sea-shore ; uneven water stages 
have been aggravated in all the older parts of the 
Union ; soil washes can be seen in all the mountain 
and hill country, especially in the Southern states, 
with their abandoned or mismanaged farm lands. 

In the Western mountains, where fires are more 
destructive on account of the coniferous composi- 
tion and the dry climate, and where the pasturing 
of sheep in the forests prevents ready reestablish- 
ment of vegetation, the results are even more 
readily observed. 

We are experiencing droughts, we are suffering 
from floods, we have uneven seasons; but how 
much of these conditions is to be ascribed to our 
forest conditions, how much to general cosmic 
causes, nobody can determine. At any rate these 
conditions can be discussed and corrected only for 
definite local points. We have, perhaps, nowhere 
as yet come to such state of affairs as those re- 
ported from the high Alps of France, Switzerland, 
Austria, and Italy, but a continuance of our 
present disregard of the soil cover must inevitably 
lead to them. 

Meanwhile the supply question is the more im- 
portant, and attention to this, leading to the practice 
of silviculture, will naturally also incidentally cor- 
rect the evils of denudation, 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES. 

From the very beginning of the settlement of 
the country some wise heads recognized that atten- 
tion to satisfactory forest conditions is as neces- 
sary as attention to other economic conditions. 
William Penn, the founder and first legislator of 
Pennsylvania, as early as 1682, stipulated in his 
ordinances, regarding the disposal of lands, that 
for every five acres cleared of forest growth one 
acre should be left to forest. In 1640, only two 
years after its settlement, the inhabitants of 
Exeter, N. H., adopted a general order for the 
regulation of the cutting of oak timber, then a 
most valuable export material, a precaution which 
other towns followed. In 1701, the governor of 
New York reports 40 mills in the province of New 
York, and referring to one working with 12 saws, 
he adds, " A few such mills will quickly destroy 
all the woods in the Province at a reasonable dis- 
tance from them." And he recommended that 
each person who removed a tree should pay for 
planting four or five young trees, as the Russians 
do to-day. 1 

1 See " History of the Lumber Industry in the State of New 
York," by Colonel W. T. Fox, 6th Kept, of F. F. G. Com., 1901. 
2B 369 



370 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

In 1708, the provincial assembly of New 
Hampshire forbade the cutting of mast trees on 
ungranted lands under a penalty of ;£ioo, and 
at that early time the province had a surveyor- 
general of forests, appointed by royal authority, 
for the purpose of preventing depredations upon 
the timber. No doubt this early regard to the 
timber supplies in the face of plenty came largely 
through the momentum of education, suggested 
by the usages and methods of the mother coun- 
tries, where forest protection had already become 
an established policy, and even forestry practices 
existed. 

A century later, real want seems to have ap- 
peared, or at least anticipation of it. For, in 1795, 
the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Arts, 
and Manufactures published a report on the best 
mode of preserving and increasing growth of tim- 
bers, an outcome of an inquiry by circular letter 
issued in 1791 ; and in 1804, the Massachusetts 
Society for the Promotion of Agriculture offered 
prizes for successful forest plantations ; while 
the federal government, between the years 1799 
and 183 1, appropriated money for the purchase 
and passed legislation for the protection of live- 
oak timber, suitable for navy purposes, under 
which acts it acquired some 250,000 acres in Ala- 
bama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi, — not 
as a matter of general forest policy, but to secure 
sufficient supplies of a special material, restricted 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 371 

in amount, and supposed to be a continued neces- 
sity for building war ships. 1 

We can now smile at the concern expressed so 
early by writers in public prints, with regard to 
the threatened exhaustion of forest supplies. But 
it must be understood that the extent of our forest 
domain was then entirely unknown, the population 
was confined mainly to the Eastern coast country, 
and in the absence of railroad communication, only 
the supplies adjacent to rivers and sea were avail- 
able, and, just as in Europe, the fuel question was 
uppermost, as long as coal had not yet been de- 
veloped; hence location of supplies close to centres 
of civilization was of more moment. 

With the rapid development of the country, and 
the opening up of means of transportation, such 
as the Erie Canal, the apprehensions regarding 
supplies seem to have vanished. During the 
active period of expansion, from 1820 to i860, 
when the population more than quadrupled, over 
one and a half million farms were established, 
mainly hewn from the forest, the timber in the 
absence of a ready market being largely burned 
in the log pile ; and with the necessity of constantly 
having to subdue tree growth, not only a feeling 
of inexhaustible resources and hence of careless- 
ness, but almost a real pleasure in destruction 

1 Laws to punish malicious and wilful incendiarism and some- 
times also careless firing of the woods were about this period en- 
acted in almost every state. 



372 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

seems to have been inculcated in the early settlers. 
Then came the period of railroad building and the 
settling of the Western prairies and plains, after 
i860, and then only the enormous lumber business, 
as we know it to-day, came into existence. 

The difference in the volume and character of 
the business of forest exploitation is most readily 
seen by comparing the census figures at different 
periods. In 1840, there were reported 31,560 
lumber mills, with a total product valued at 
$12,943,507, or a little over $400 per mill. Small 
country mills, run like gristmills and often in con- 
nection with such, sawed to order for home con- 
sumption, or sent material to the mouth of the 
river, to be carried by vessel to home and foreign 
markets. By 1870, a change had already become 
apparent, when the product per mill was $6500, 
which in 1890 had grown to $19,000, or about 
three times the value of 1870 with only 21,011 
mills reported. 

In 1865, the state of New York still furnished 
more lumber than any other state ; it now is seven- 
teenth in the list with less than one billion feet. 
In 1868, the golden age of lumbering had arrived 
in Michigan, and this state is still second with over 
three billion feet; in 1871, rafts filled the Wisconsin 
River, and the state of Wisconsin is now the largest 
producer ; yet the 30 mills of Eau Claire, 20 mills 
at Marathon, 20 mills at Fond du Lac, which in 
1875 cut millions of feet, are now all gone. 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 373 

Besides the concentration of the lumber busi- 
ness into large establishments which these figures 
show, there are other interesting changes indicated 
in the census figures, which have a bearing upon 
the question of the need of a forest policy and the 
cause for its development. While in 1890 the 
efficiency of the single mill establishments had in- 
creased to three times what it was in 1870, and to 
nearly fifty times that of 1840, the total product 
had also increased in the last twenty years nearly 
three times, but the capital employed in the lum- 
ber industry had increased four and one-third times ; 
and while capital became less efficient with concen- 
tration, the unit product of labor also became less 
efficient in spite of the improvement of machinery, 
every dollar of capital producing less result by over 
40 per cent in 1890, in the value of the product, 
and every dollar of wages producing less result by 
over 12 per cent, but the cost of raw material had 
increased over 16 per cent, — all these are signs 
pointing to the deterioration and exhaustion of 
supplies at least in the principal producing regions. 
The census of 1900 is, at present writing, not ac- 
cessible in a form permitting such comparisons, 
except that we can note an apparent increase in 
value of product of nearly 30 per cent over that of 
1890. (See Appendix for further details.) 

It would be difficult to set a date or mark an 
event from which the change in the methods of 
the lumber industry, now such a stupendous factor 



374 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

in forest decimation, might be reckoned; it came 
as gradually or as fast as railway systems de- 
veloped, and made accessible the vast fields of 
supply in the northwestern Lake states just as the 
supplies of the Eastern states began to weaken. 1 

By 1882 the Saginaw Valley had reached the 
climax of its production, and the lumber industry 
of the great Northwest, with a cut of eight billion 
feet of white pine alone, was in full blast. South- 
ern development began much later to assume large 
proportions, but by the present time the lumber 
product of the Southern states has grown to pro- 
portions equal, if not superior, to those of the 
Northern states. 

No wonder that those observing this rapid deci- 
mation of our forest supplies and the incredible 
wastefulness and additional destruction by fire, with 
no attention to the aftergrowth, began again to 
sound the note of alarm. Besides the writings in 
the daily press and other non-official publications, 
we find the reports of the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture more and more frequently 
calling attention to the subject. 

In the report issued by the Patent Office as early 
as 1849, we fi n d the following significant language 
in a discussion on the influence of forests on water- 
flow and their rapid destruction : — 

"The waste of valuable timber in the United 

1 See " American Lumber," by B. E. Fernow, in " One Hun- 
dred Years of American Commerce," D. O. Haynes & Co., 1895. 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 375 

States, to say nothing of firewood, will hardly be- 
gin to be appreciated until our population reaches 
50,000,000. Then the folly and shortsightedness 
of this age will meet with a degree of censure and 
reproach not pleasant to contemplate." 

The report of the Department of Agriculture 
for i860 contains a long article by J. G. Cooper on 
" The forests and trees of northern America as 
connected with climate and agriculture." 

In 1865, the Rev. Frederic Starr discussed fully 
and forcibly the " American forests, their destruc- 
tion and preservation," in which, with truly pro- 
phetic vision, he says : — 

" It is feared it will be long, perhaps a full cen- 
tury, before the results at which we ought to aim 
as a nation will be realized by our whole country, 
to wit, that we should raise an adequate supply of 
wood and timber for all our wants. The evils 
which are anticipated will probably increase upon 
us for thirty years to come with tenfold the rapidity 
with which restoring or ameliorating measures shall 
be adopted." 

And again : — 

" Like a cloud no bigger than a man's hand just 
rising from the sea, an awakening interest begins 
to come in sight on this subject, which as a ques- 
tion of political economy will place the interests 
of cotton, wool, coal, iron, meat, and even grain 
beneath its feet. Some of these, according to the 
demand, can be produced in a few days, others in 



376 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

a few months or in a few years, but timber in not 
less than one generation. The nation has slept 
because the gnawing of want has not awakened 
her. She has had plenty and to spare, but within 
thirty years she will be conscious that not only 
individual want is present, but that it comes to 
each from permanent national famine of wood." 

The article is full of interesting detail, and may 
be said to be the starting basis for the campaign 
for better methods which followed. 

Another and unquestionably most influential 
official report was that upon " Forests and Forestry 
of Germany," by Dr. John A. Warder, United States 
commissioner to the World's Fair at Vienna in 
1873. Dr. Warder set forth clearly and correctly 
the methods employed abroad in the use of forests, 
and became himself one of the most prominent 
propagandists for their adoption in his own coun- 
try. About the same time appeared the classical 
work of George P. Marsh, our minister to Italy, 
"The Earth as Modified by Human Action," in 
which the evil effects of forest destruction on cul- 
tural conditions were ably and forcibly pointed 
out. 

The census for 1870 for the first time attempted 
a canvass of our forest resources, and the rela- 
tively small area of forest became known. All 
these publications had their influence in edu- 
cating a larger number to a conception and con- 
sideration of the importance of the subject, so that 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 377 

when, in 1873, a committee on forestry of the 
American Association for the Advancement of 
Science was formed, and its memorial calling for 
the creation of a commissioner of forestry to gather 
information was presented to Congress, there ex- 
isted already an intelligent audience; and, although 
a considerable amount of lethargy and lack of 
interest was exhibited, Congress could be per- 
suaded, in 1876, to establish the agency in the 
United States Department of Agriculture out of 
which grew the Division of Forestry now desig- 
nated as Bureau of Forestry. 

While these were the beginnings of an official 
recognition of the subject by the federal govern- 
ment, private enterprise and the separate states 
started also about the same time to forward the 
movement. In 1867, the agricultural and horti- 
cultural societies of Wisconsin appointed a com- 
mittee to report on the disastrous effects of forest 
destruction. In 1869, the Maine Board of Agricul- 
ture appointed a committee to report on a forest 
policy for the state, leading to the act of 1872 " for 
the encouragement of the growth of trees," ex- 
empting from taxation for twenty years lands 
planted to trees, which law, as far as we know, 
remained without result. About the same time a 
real wave of enthusiasm with regard to planting of 
timber seems to have pervaded the country, and 
especially the Western prairie states. In addition 
to laws regarding the planting of trees on high- 



378 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY.' 

ways, there were enacted laws for the encourage- 
ment of timber planting, either under bounty or 
exemption from taxation, in Iowa, Kansas, and 
Wisconsin in 1868, in Nebraska and in New York in 
1869, in Missouri in 1870, in Minnesota in 1 871, in 
Iowa in 1872, in Illinois in 1874, in Nevada, Dakota, 
and Connecticut in 1877, and finally the federal 
government joined in this kind of legislation by 
the so-called timber culture acts of 1873 and 1874, 
amended in 1876 and 1877. 

For the most part these laws remained a dead 
letter. The encouragement by release from taxes, 
except in the case of the federal government, was 
not much of an inducement, nor does the bounty 
provision seem to have had greater success, except 
in taking money out of the treasuries. Finally 
these laws were in most states repealed. 

The timber culture act was passed by Congress 
on March 3, 1873; by this act the planting of 
timber on 40 acres of land, or a proportionate area 
in the treeless territory, conferred the title to 160 
acres or a proportionate amount of the public 
domain. This law had not been in existence ten 
years when its repeal was demanded, and this was 
finally secured in 1891, the reason being that, partly 
owing to the crude provisions of the law and partly 
to the lack of proper supervision, it had been 
abused and had given rise to much fraud in obtain- 
ing title to lands under false pretences. It is diffi- 
cult to say how much impetus the law gave to bona- 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 379 

fide forest-planting and how much timber growth 
has resulted from it. Unfavorable climate, lack of 
satisfactory plant material, and lack of knowledge 
as to proper methods led to many failures, and on 
the whole the expected results were not realized. 
Private interest of homesteaders and settlers with- 
out these aids has probably been more effective. 
In this direction the establishment of arbor days 
throughout the states has been a stimulating influ- 
ence. From its inception by Governor J. Sterling 
Morton and first inauguration by the State Board of 
Agriculture of Nebraska in 1872, it has become a 
day of observance in nearly every state, and its 
adoption as a national holiday may be shortly 
expected. 

While, with the exception of the so-called treeless 
states, perhaps not much planting of economic 
value is done, the observance of the day in schools 
as one set apart for the discussion of the importance 
of trees, forests, and forestry, has been productive 
of an increased interest in the subject. 

Nevertheless, arbor days have had also a retarding 
influence upon the practical forestry movement in 
leading people into the misconception that forestry 
consists in tree-planting, in diverting attention from 
the economic question of the proper use of existing 
forest areas, in bringing into the discussion poetry 
and emotions, which have clouded the hardheaded 
practical issues and delayed the earnest attention 
of practical business men. 



380 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

The amount of tree-planting performed on the 
prairies, plains, and Western valleys, although ag- 
gregating thousands of acres, is infinitesimal, if 
compared with what is necessary for climatic 
amelioration ; and it may be admitted, now as well 
as later, that the reforestation of the plains must 
be a matter of cooperative, if not of national, enter- 
prise. 

Indeed, as a result of an experiment instituted 
by the writer in 1890 to prove that the sand-hills of 
Nebraska could and should be planted to conifers, 
the federal government has lately reserved 200,000 
acres for such planting, out of the 15,000,000 acres 
comprised in this sand-hill region. 

Private efforts in the East in the way of fostering 
and carrying on economic timber-planting should 
not be forgotten, such as the prizes offered by the 
Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, the plant- 
ing done by the private landholders at Cape Cod, in 
Rhode Island, Virginia, and elsewhere. 

There have also been, here and there, farmers 
bestowing care on the manner of cutting their 
woodlots ; lumbermen and other forest owners 
have, now and then, not only made special efforts 
to protect their forest properties against fire, but 
have done their cutting conservatively and with 
care for the existing young growth. 

Yet, altogether, these efforts have been sporadic, 
unsystematic, and not on any scale commensurate 
with the destruction of virgin resources, as may be 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 38 1 

learned from an article in the Year-book of the 
United States Department of Agriculture, for 
1899, in which an attempt is made to collect the 
facts regarding these efforts and place them in 
the most favorable light. While perhaps conser- 
vative culling has been practised by lumbermen in 
more cases than is known, actual forestry practice 
with a view to securing reproduction has been rare 
and only very lately introduced in a few conspicu- 
ous cases, the Forestry Bureau of the United States 
Department of Agriculture being instrumental in 
most of them ; this bureau offering to prepare so- 
called " working plans " for private owners, in 
which some rules for the cutting of mature timber 
are laid down, intended to insure a succession of 
young growth. It is stated, that owners of nearly 
2,000,000 acres have asked for such advice. With 
the increase of educated foresters able to make 
and carry out such working plans, and with the 
appreciation by the forest owners of the possibility 
of securing continuous revenues by a conservative 
treatment of their properties under such plans, 
these small beginnings promise to bring about the 
much-needed reform, especially with the owners of 
extensive tracts, who are financially able to forego 
the present revenue from closer cutting for the 
sake of better future returns, which may be de- 
rived from more conservative lumbering. 

Most of the efforts to engage state governments 
in establishing forest policies originated in associa- 



382 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

tions formed for the purpose of making the neces- 
sary propaganda. 

The first forestry association organized for the 
purpose of advancing forestry interests was formed 
on January 12, 1876, in St. Paul, Minn., largely 
through the efforts of Leonard B. Hodges. This 
association was aided by state appropriations, 
which enabled it to offer premiums for the setting 
out of plantations, and also to publish and distribute 
widely a Tree Planters' Manual. Revised editions 
are issued from time to time, and a distribution of 
plant material is also occasionally attempted, the 
state aiding to the extent of $1000 to $2000 
annually. 

In 1875, Dr. John A. Warder issued a call for a 
convention in Chicago to form a national forestry 
association. This association was completed in 
1876 at Philadelphia, but never showed any life or 
growth. 

In 1882, a number of patriotic citizens at Cin- 
cinnati called together a forestry congress, incited 
thereto by the visit and representations of Baron 
von Steuben, a Prussian forest official, when attend- 
ing the centennial celebration of the surrender of 
Yorktown. 

A very enthusiastic and representative gathering, 
on April 25, lasting through the week, led to the 
formation of the American Forestry Association. 
This association, holding yearly and intermediate 
meetings in different parts of the states, has 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 383 

become the centre of all private efforts to advance 
the forestry movement. Twelve volumes of its 
proceedings contain not only the history of prog- 
ress in establishing a forest policy, but also much 
other information of value on forestry subjects. It 
now publishes a monthly journal, The Forester, 
(since 1902 called Forestry and Irrigation). It is 
unaided by government, its efforts being entirely 
borne by private means and the annual dues of its 
membership, its officers doing gratuitous work. It 
has been especially instrumental in bringing about 
the establishment of the federal forest reservation 
policy, which we will note further on in detail. 

Other local or state forestry associations were 
formed more or less under the lead of the national 
association, and exist now in Massachusetts, Con- 
necticut, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, 
New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, 
Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, Colorado, Utah, 
and Washington, while several other societies, like 
the Sierra Club, the Water and Forest Association, 
and the Mazamas of the Pacific coast, and state 
horticultural societies in various states, make the 
subject one to be discussed and to be fostered. 

The most active of these associations, publish- 
ing also, since its formation in 1886, a bimonthly 
journal, Forest Leaves, is the Pennsylvania State 
Forestry Association, which has succeeded in 
thoroughly committing its state to a proper forest 
policy, as far as official recognition is concerned. 



384 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Usually, as a result of this associated private 
effort, various states have appointed forestry com- 
missions or commissioners. These commissions 
were at first for the most part instituted for in- 
quiry and to make a report, upon which a forest 
policy for the state might be framed. Others 
have become permanent parts of the state organ- 
ization with executive or educational functions. 
Such commissions of inquiry were appointed at 
various times in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 
Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, 
North Dakota, Colorado, California; while com- 
missioners or commissions with executive duties 
exist now or did exist for a time in Maine, New 
Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, 
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Kansas, North Da- 
kota, Colorado, and California. 

Maine has an efficient forest fire law (chap. 26 of 
Revised Statutes) based on that of the state of 
New York, and a forest commissioner (created in 
1 89 1, Public Laws, chap. 100) — the state land 
agent of the state being ex officio designated as 
such — to look to its execution. He is also to 
create an interest in forestry and furnish useful 
information on the subject. 

Two very interesting and instructive reports on 
the growth of the spruce and on allied subjects 
are the result. 

New Hampshire had a temporary commission of 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 385 

inquiry, appointed in 1881 and reporting in 1885 ; 
and another such commission in 1889, reporting in 
1893, when the permanent forestry commission 
was created (March 29, 1893) with a paid secre- 
tary, who publishes an annual report. The main 
function of the commission is one of inquiry and 
suggestion, besides partial supervision of the forest 
fire law. The acquisition of public parks, if pri- 
vate munificence should be found willing to furnish 
the necessary funds, is also made a part of the 
function of the commission. Two small areas 
have been donated for this purpose. Within the 
last year (1901) the Society for the Protection 
of New Hampshire Forests was formed, which, 
through the employment of a forester, attempts to 
secure increased practical interest. 

In Massachusetts no special public officers are 
charged with the care of forestry interests, and 
hence the otherwise useful existing legislation in 
the interest of forestry is probably of only partial 
effect. Its best feature is perhaps that of encour- 
aging communities to become owners of forest 
tracts (chap. 255, acts of 1882). The city of Bos- 
ton has made special efforts in this direction, hav- 
ing set aside more than 7000 acres for forest 
parks. The State Board of Agriculture was, in 
1890, ordered to inquire "into the condition of 
the forests of the state, the need and methods of 
their protection," and report thereon, which order 
did not produce anything of value. A bill to se- 

2C 



386 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

cure such forest survey, introduced into the legis- 
lature in the year 1897, failed of passage. 

In Vermont a commission of inquiry was insti- 
tuted in 1882, reporting in 1884 without any prac- 
tical result, the proposed legislation remaining 
unconsidered. 

In New York a. law was passed in 1872 naming 
seven citizens, with Horatio Seymour, chairman, 
as a state park commission, instructed to make 
inquiries with the view of reserving or appropriat- 
ing the wild lands lying northward of the Mo- 
hawk, or so much thereof as might be deemed 
expedient, for a state park. The commission, 
finding that the state then owned only 40,000 
acres in that region, and that there was a tendency 
on the part of the holders of the rest to combine 
for the enhancement of values should the state 
want to buy, recommended a law forbidding fur- 
ther sales of state lands, and their retention when 
forfeited for the nonpayment of taxes. 

It was eleven years later, in 1883, that this 
recommendation was acted upon, when the state 
through the nonpayment of taxes by the owners 
had become possessed of 600,060 acres — the nu- 
cleus of the later state forest preserve. 

In 1884, the comptroller was authorized to em- 
ploy " such experts as he may deem necessary to 
investigate and report a system of forest preser- 
vation." The report of a commission of four 
members was made in 1885, but the legislation 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 387 

proposed was antagonized by the lumbering in- 
terests. The legislature finally passed a compro- 
mise bill formulated in part by the writer, entitled 
" An act establishing a forest commission, and to 
define its powers, and for the preservation of 
forests." 

This legislation, afterward amended, is the most 
comprehensive of that of any state in the Union. 

The original forest commission, appointed under 
the act of May 15, 1885, was superseded in 1895 by 
the Commission of Fisheries, Game, and Forests 
(now designated " Forest, Fish, and Game Commis- 
sion ") under the law of April 25, 1895. This law 
is a comprehensive measure in which allied inter- 
ests are brought under the control of a single 
board. Under this law the commission consisted 
of five members appointed by the governor with 
consent of the senate, the term of office being five 
years. 

By later changes, the number of commissioners 
was reduced to three, two of whom are to discon- 
tinue with the year 1903, so that then a single 
commissioner will be in charge. The commission 
has full control of the Adirondack Preserve, with a 
staff of officials which includes a superintendent 
of forests, three expert foresters (since 1900) who 
are graduates of the State College of Forestry, 
and some forty " fish and game protectors and 
foresters," i.e. not technically educated guards. 

The duties of the commission besides publish- 



388 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

ing annual reports are described in the laws of 
1895, namely, to (1) have the care, custody, control, 
and superintendence of the forest preserve ; (2) 
maintain, protect, and promote the growth of the 
forests in the preserve ; (3) have charge of the 
public interests of the state in regard to forestry 
and tree-planting, and especially with reference to 
forest fires in every part of the state ; (4) possess 
all the powers relating to the preserve which were 
vested in the commissioners of the land office and 
in the comptroller on May 15, 1885; (5) prescribe 
rules and regulations affecting the whole or any 
part of the preserve for its use, care, and adminis- 
tration, and alter or amend the same ; but neither 
such rules or regulations nor anything contained 
in this article shall prevent or operate to prevent 
the free use of any road, stream, or water as the 
same may have been heretofore used, or as may 
be reasonably required in the prosecution of any 
lawful business ; (6) take measures for the awaken- 
ing of an interest in forestry in the schools and 
the imparting of elementary instruction on such 
subject therein, and issue tracts and circulars for 
the care of private woodlands, etc.; (7) print and 
post rules for the prevention and suppression of 
forest fires. 

In singular antagonism to these duties, especially 
that which calls for the promotion of the growth 
of forests in the preserve, stands a provision in 
the state constitution, which was inserted in 1893, 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 389 

after the commission had existed for 8 years, 
barring the rational use and the application of any- 
forest management in the preserve in the follow- 
ing language : — 

Article VII : "The lands of the State constitut- 
ing the forest preserve now fixed by law shall be 
forever kept as wild lands. They shall not be 
leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any cor- 
poration, public or private, nor shall the timber 
thereon be sold or removed or destroyed." 

This certainly forbids the practice of forestry 
as explained in the chapter on " Silviculture," and 
would seemingly exclude even the planting of waste 
lands, although the commission during the present 
year, stimulated by the example of the College of 
Forestry, has set out a large number of trees on 
such lands. Repeated efforts to remove this con- 
stitutional bar to forestry practice on state lands 
have been made, but the people have so far refused 
to reconsider the injunction, partly because of mis- 
trust of the commission's technical ability, partly 
because of ignorance or misconception of what 
forestry means, partly because of the influence of 
wealthy property owners, who desire to keep these 
woods in the wild condition for their pleasure ; and 
there are perhaps good reasons why this economic 
loss should be endured until more education in for- 
estry matters is secured and the forest preserve in 
its entirety is established and a comprehensive plan 
can be formulated. 



390 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

In 1897, legislation, providing for an increase of 
the state forest preserve, was passed by instituting 
the Forest Preserve Board, whose function it is to 
purchase lands with appropriations made from 
time to time. Nearly $2,000,000 have been spent 
on such purchases, and the preserve now contains 
over 1,250,000 acres, which, if properly adminis- 
tered under forest management, should at least pro- 
duce the amount of about $150,000 annually for 
supporting the Forest, Fish, and Game Commission. 

The state of New York was the first to inau- 
gurate this forest reservation policy (even before 
the federal government), as well as the first com- 
prehensive effective forest fire law, with an organ- 
ization for its execution, and furthermore took the 
first steps to provide for the technical education 
of foresters, by establishing in 1898 the New York 
State College of Forestry, to be. administered by 
Cornell University, together with a demonstration 
forest of 30,000 acres, located in the Adirondacks. 
The demonstration area was designed to give a 
practical object lesson of the manner in which a 
forest may be managed for reproduction and for 
profit; the college, to educate the foresters, who 
may eventually become the technical advisers for 
the management of the forest preserve. A four 
years' course, leading to the degree of Forest 
Engineer, as full and complete as any of the 
European forestry schools, is offered. During the 
first four years of its existence, the number of 



;v x 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 391 

students has increased to 65 (fall, 1902), and the 
18 graduates and special students, who have been 
sent out from this first professional school, have 
found ready employment in the federal and state 
service or with private employers. 

The state which, next to New York, has most 
progressed in the direction of a forest policy is 
Pennsylvania. Through the efforts of the State 
Forestry Association, a commission of inquiry was 
first created in 1893, and before its report was 
published, in 1895, provision was also made for a 
commissioner of forestry as an organic division of 
the newly created department of agriculture. 
Through the effort of the commissioner, Dr. Roth- 
rock, important legislation was had in 1897, and 
in 1 90 1 the division became a separate depart- 
ment of forestry, and a state forest reservation 
commission was created. 

The most important legislation of 1897, besides 
improving the forest fire laws, and relieving forest- 
lands under certain conditions from taxation (see 
p. 247), is that " authorizing the purchase by the 
Commonwealth of unseated lands for the nonpay- 
ment of taxes, for the purpose of creating a state 
forest reservation," and another act, providing for 
the immediate establishment of three definite reser- 
vations in the three large drainage areas of the state. 
Under these acts, some 400,000 acres have been 
reserved. A second state had recognized the 
propriety of state forests. 



392 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

The third state falling in line is Michigan. It 
began in 1887 by constituting the State Board of 
Agriculture a forestry commission of inquiry, but 
the report of the commission, published in 1888, 
remained without immediate effect. In 1899, a 
permanent forestry commission of three was ap- 
pointed, whose duty was in the first place also 
merely one of inquiry, with the requirement to 
submit in 1901 a bill "to carry out the objects 
for which this commission is appointed," but also 
empowering the commission to have withdrawn 
from sale, temporarily, 200,000 acres of " state tax 
homestead lands and swamplands belonging to the 
state," and to receive from private owners dona- 
tions of land. The commission presented a most 
admirable bill to carry out the forest reservation 
policy, but the bill was defeated, largely through 
the farming element. Nevertheless, the commis- 
sion secured a forest reservation of 70,000 acres, 
and the progress of this policy is well assured, 
although progress will probably be slow on ac- 
count of ignorant or selfish obstructionists. 

In Minnesota a law was enacted in 1901, setting 
aside as a state forest reserve all lands unfit for 
agriculture that reverted to the state through 
delinquent taxes before 1891 ; but legislation, hav- 
ing in view the creation of forest boards and forest 
reserve areas under rather unique conditions, 
which was introduced in the legislature in 1897, 
failed to become law. 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 393 

In consequence of the terrible warning by the 
forest fires of 1894, which destroyed nearly three 
quarter million dollars' worth of property, and sev- 
eral hundred lives, Minnesota created the office of 
chief fire warden, acting under the state auditor 
as forest commissioner, in charge of an organized 
service to combat forest fires. The chief fire war- 
den is also required to furnish annual reports, with 
suggestions relative to the preservation of forests 
and the prevention of forest fires. The four or 
five reports issued, show that the protective ser- 
vice is tolerably effective in spite of deficient ap- 
propriations, and the fact that the questions of 
forestry are systematically kept before the pub- 
lic is bound to result sooner or later in more com- 
prehensive action. 

The third of the three great lumber states, Wis- 
consin, was also scared by the forest fires of 1894 
into enacting a forest fire law, similar to the Min- 
nesota law, which followed the principles of organ- 
ization first inaugurated in the New York law of 
1885. Here the chief clerk of the state land 
office, and his deputy, were made forest wardens 
without additional salary. Towns are limited to 
$100 per year expenditure in extinguishing fires. 
It is easy to judge what the efficiency of such ser- 
vice may be. An attempt, through a commission 
of inquiry created in 1897, to commit the state 
further has so far failed. 

In the first year of the new century, two other 



394 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

states recognized their responsibility, namely In- 
diana and Connecticut. Indiana entered the list 
of states with a forest policy by the establishment 
of a state board of forestry and the enactment 
of a law exempting certain forest lands from tax- 
ation (see p. 246). Connecticut appointed a state 
forester under the board of control of the Agricul- 
tural Experiment Station, and enacted a law " con- 
cerning reforestation of barren lands," making a 
small appropriation for the purchase and planting 
of such lands. 

A few other states show feeble beginnings, some 
dating back a long time, without visible progress. 

In New Jersey, North Carolina, and West Virginia 
the state geological surveys have had the forestry 
interests in charge for several years, publishing 
from time to time useful information. A well-de- 
vised bill providing for a forest commission and 
state forest reserve failed of passage in the legis- 
lature of West Virginia in 1897. 

In Ohio a forestry bureau was instituted in 1885, 
its functions being of an educational and advisory 
nature. It published four or five annual reports 
containing information on a variety of subjects, 
but for a number of years these reports, and prob- 
ably the bureau, have been discontinued. 

In North Dakota the office of commissioner of 
irrigation and forestry was created in 1890, seem- 
ingly mainly for educational purposes. In Kansas 
for some time the educational campaign for timber- 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 395 

planting of the State Horticultural Society was 
supplemented by the state in the establishment 
of two experimental tree stations, from which plant 
material is distributed to intending planters through 
a forest commissioner. 

The state of Colorado was the first to recognize 
in her constitution the existence of a duty on the 
part of the government with regard to her forestry 
interests. 

Article XVIII of the constitution, adopted in 
convention March 14, 1876, contains the follow- 
ing clauses : — 

" Sec. 6. The general assembly shall enact laws 
in order to prevent the destruction of and to keep 
in good preservation the forests upon the lands of 
the State or upon lands of the public domain, the 
control of which shall be conferred by Congress 
upon the State. 

" Sec. 7. The general assembly may provide 
that the increase in the value of private lands 
caused by the planting of hedges, orchards, and 
forests thereon shall not, for a limited time, to be 
fixed by law, be taken into account in assessing 
such lands for taxation." 

The constitutional convention also presented a 
memorial to congress asking for the transfer of 
the public timber lands in the then territory to 
the care and custody of the state, which remained, 
however, without attention. 

The intentions of the constitution to take care 



396 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

of the forestry interests of the state were, how- 
ever, not carried into effect until 1885, when a law 
was passed creating the office of a forest commis- 
sioner and constituting the county commissioners 
and road overseers throughout the state, forest 
officers in their respective localities, to act as a 
police force in preventing depredation and fire, and 
to encourage and promote forest culture. But the 
provisions to carry out this laudable work were 
from the start insufficient, and the office of forest 
commissioner finally remaining without a salary 
became vacant, the law ineffective. A new de- 
parture, however, was made in 1897. In that year 
a department of forestry, game, and fish was 
created. The salaried officers provided are a com- 
missioner and three wardens, and the commissioner 
may appoint deputy wardens without pay. Section 
9 of the law provides that — 

" Said commissioner shall, as much as possible, 
promote the growth and extension of the forest 
areas of the state, and encourage the planting of 
trees and the preservation of the sources of water 
supply, but nothing in this act contained shall 
authorize the commissioner to interfere with the 
use of timber for domestic, mining, or agricultural 
purposes, in accordance with existing laws. He 
shall have the care of all woodlands and forests 
which may at any time be controlled by the state, 
and shall cause all such lands to be located and 
recorded in a book to be kept for the purpose." 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 397 

Section 10 prohibits the appointment to any 
office created by this act of any person directly or 
indirectly engaged in the manufacture of lumber, 
railroad ties, telegraph poles, or any business re- 
quiring a large use of wood. The law makes it a 
misdemeanor to cause fires to be set without a 
guard, or to cut coniferous timber from public or 
state lands for shipment outside the state. The 
remainder of the law provides for the protection of 
fish and game. 

California began its course for the establishment 
of a forest policy in the most promising manner 
in 1885 by creating a state board of forestry. At 
first it was mainly a commission of inquiry with 
educational functions ; police powers were con- 
ferred upon it in 1887 "for the purpose of making 
arrests for any violation of any law applying to 
forest and brush lands within the State, or pro- 
hibiting the destruction thereof," with an appropri- 
ation of $30,000 for the two years following, but 
by 1 89 1 political complications and perversion of 
the moneys appropriated undid the good work of 
the first board, and the office, as well as the func- 
tions, were abolished. Besides three valuable 
reports on the forest conditions and forest trees 
of the state, the board left as an inheritance two 
experiment stations, where exotic trees are being 
tested, now under charge of the University of 
California. Lately the state appropriated $250,000 
to purchase the remnant of the great Redwood 



398 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

forest in the Santa Cruz Mountains for a public 
park ; such reservation, however, is only distantly 
and indirectly a part of forest policy. 

We have again and again referred to the first 
and foremost obligation of the state and the most 
urgent and important need of reform in the treat- 
ment of our woodlands, namely protection against 
fires. There is so far no state as yet fully doing 
its duty in this direction, although tolerably effec- 
tive beginnings have been made in several states. 
The first comprehensive forest fire law, drafted 
by the writer, was enacted in New York in 1885 
in connection with the establishment of a forest 
commission. This law for the first time recognized 
the need of officers responsible for the execution 
of the law and of a well-organized army of fire 
wardens throughout the state. The states of 
Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, 
and Minnesota followed, with some modifications, 
this example of New York. The most complete 
forest fire law is probably that of Minnesota, 
enacted in 1895, which is, like the others, however, 
only partially effective on account of deficient 
appropriations and limited functions of the com- 
missioner or fire warden. 1 

It would appear from all experience now accu- 
mulated by the officers in charge of the execution 

1 For a full discussion of this phase of forest policy, with reprint 
of the Minnesota law, see H. R. Doc. No, 181, 55th Cong. 3d 
sess. pp. 183-189. 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES- 399 

of this law, that the reduction in forest fires is 
largely a matter of education and the. development 
of morals, which must come in time. Moreover, 
when real forestry is begun, when waste lands are 
not any more abandoned as useless, but planted to 
valuable timber, when forest properties are really 
managed for continuity, in short, when forestry is 
practised, both the necessity and the desire for 
careful protection of a valuable piece of property 
will bring about a cessation of incendiarism ; and 
the practice of forestry will soon come, when edu- 
cated foresters can be had to practise it. 

For the education of such, provision is being rap- 
idly made by the establishment of special forestry 
schools or of courses in forestry in existing institu- 
tions. Here again the state of New York recog- 
nized its educational function by establishing, in 
1898, the State College of Forestry at Cornell 
University. With the establishment of this first 
professional forestry school, we may say that the 
art of forestry was removed from the mere field of 
discussion, and engrafted on our educational sys- 
tem, insuring a new era for rational forestry 
methods. 

In the following year, Yale University estab- 
lished such a school, and a private school was 
established about the same time on the Vanderbilt 
estate at Biltmore, N. C. Before this time and 
since, the land-grant colleges of several states had 
introduced at least courses on subjects touching 



400 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

on forestry, without attempting professional train- 
ing, the object being mainly to give a general idea 
of the natural history of forest growth and the mean- 
ing and importance of forestry, and promoting 
public interest in forest protection and silviculture. 
Within a few years, however, it is to be expected 
that professional courses will exist in many of 
these institutions, and the flood of education will 
pour its beneficent influence over our neglected 
woodlands. 

A sufficient number of professionally educated 
foresters, it appears, have gone forth from these 
schools and are now at work in the United States 
(including the Philippines) to justify the publication 
of the first professional journal, the Forestry Quar- 
terly, which made its appearance in the fall of 
1902, published by students, alumni, and faculty of 
the New York State College of Forestry. 

In this connection we should perhaps make also 
special mention of the effort of Berea College in 
Kentucky to furnish instruction in forestry to a 
class of rangers. Indeed, there is now more need 
to provide for this class of instruction, to rangers, 
logging bosses, under-foresters, etc., than for a 
multiplication of higher grade schools, nevertheless 
the latter is evidently contemplated by a number 
of colleges. 

In all these movements throughout the states, 
the efforts of the American Forestry Association 
and of the state associations may be recognized, 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 40I 

and the actions of the federal government no doubt 
had also an indirect educational influence. 

With the establishment of the Division of For- 
estry in the United States Department of Agricul- 
ture (1876-1885) an official centre was created for 
supporting the forestry movement, and through the 
organization of the American Forestry Congress 
(changed later to American Forestry Association), 
in which the officers of the Division of Forestry 
naturally took a leading part, the sphere of in- 
fluence was greatly enlarged. These two agencies 
have moulded public opinion through the past 
twenty or twenty-five years and brought about 
the interest now taken in forestry matters. The 
history of the establishment of these two agencies 
may be read in the repeatedly cited public docu- 
ment (H. R. Doc. No. 181, 55th Cong. 3d sess.) 
and in the publications of the American Forestry 
Association. 

The main tangible result of the educational cam- 
paign of these agencies for a federal policy was the 
inauguration of the forest reservation policy. 

The first suggestion of such a policy appeared 
in 1876 with a bill (H. R. No. 2075) "for the pres- 
ervation of the forests adjacent to the sources of 
navigable rivers and other streams," which never 
progressed farther than the pigeonhole of the 
Public Lands Committee. 

Similar bills, introduced from time to time, 
experienced the same fate in the same or other 

2D 



402 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

committees, until more definite reservations were 
called for. An act to establish a forest reserva- 
tion on the head waters of the Missouri and 
Columbia rivers passed the Senate in 1884, and 
again in 1885, but died in the House Committee; 
in the same year a general act providing for forest 
reservations was reported favorably in the House. 
After this, hardly a year passed without a number 
of legislative propositions to the same effect being 
introduced, the titles of the bills filling several 
quarto pages of the above-cited document. 

Hardly any kind of legislation which could be 
suggested was overlooked, from the creation of 
forest commissions to investigate the subject to 
providing for fully organized forest administra- 
tions and the establishment of forestry schools. 

The American Forestry Association presented 
a comprehensive bill drawn by the Chief of the 
Forestry Division in 1888, providing for the with- 
drawal from entry or sale of all public timber lands 
not fit for agricultural use, and for their proper 
administration under technical advice. (S. 1476 
and S. 1779, 50th Cong. 1st sess.) 

Modifications of this bill were introduced from 
year to year, and their enactment urged with small 
success. 

Finally, in the Fifty-first Congress, through the 
earnest insistence of Secretary of the Interior John 
W. Noble, who was fully imbued with the necessity 
of some action such as was advocated by the asso- 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 403 

ciation, the following section was added to the act 
entitled " An act to repeal timber culture laws, and 
for other purposes," approved March 3, 1891 : — 

" Sec. 24. That the President of the United States 
may, from time to time, set apart and reserve, in 
any State or Territory having public lands bearing 
forests, any part of the public lands wholly or in 
part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether 
of commercial value or not, as public reservations, 
and the President shall, by public proclamation, 
declare the establishment of such reservations and 
the limits thereof." 

It is upon this feeble " rider," attached to a bill 
hardly germane to the subject, that the forest 
reservation policy of the federal government is 
based, that the federal land policy, which before 
considered only disposal of the public domain, 
was changed, the government becoming a land- 
owner for continuity. 

Acting upon this authority, Presidents Cleveland 
and Harrison established seventeen forest reser- 
vations, with a total estimated area of 17,500,000 
acres previous to 1894. 

The reservations were established usually upon 
the petition of citizens residing in the respective 
states and after due examination, the forestry 
association acting as intermediary. 

Meanwhile the legislation devised for the ad- 
ministration of the forest reserves, existing or to 
be established (H. R. 119), specially urged by 



404 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

Representative McRae, chairman of Public Lands 
Committee, failed to be enacted, although in the 
Fifty-third Congress it was passed by both Houses, 
but failed in conference. Forest reservation with- 
out forest administration threatened to make the 
whole policy unpopular. 

Urged by the committee of the Forestry Associa- 
tion, which hoped to secure thereby potent influence 
for the proposed legislation, Secretary Hoke Smith, 
of the Department of the Interior, impressed with 
the importance of devising some adequate system 
of protection and management of the forests, both 
within the reserves and in the public domain, under 
date of February 15, 1896, requested the National 
Academy of Sciences, the legally constituted 
adviser of the government in scientific matters, to 
investigate and report "upon the inauguration of 
a rational forest policy for the forested lands of 
the United States." 

Under date of February 1, 1897, the academy 
submitted to Secretary Francis a preliminary 
report recommending the creation of thirteen 
additional forest reserves with a total area of 
2I >379j^40 acres. These reserves were proclaimed 
as recommended, without examination, by President 
Cleveland, February 22, 1897. On May 1, 1897, 
the president of the academy submitted his com- 
plete report (Senate Doc. No. 105), recommending 
substantially the legislation so long urged by the 
Forestry Association. 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 405 

A storm of indignation broke out in Congress 
over the precipitate action of the President, the 
repeal of the entire forest reservation policy was 
demanded by the Western senators and represen- 
tatives, who felt insulted by the lack of consid- 
eration, and the laboriously achieved first step 
threatened to be lost. A compromise was, how- 
ever, effected. 

The sundry civil appropriation bill passed June 4, 
1897 (see Senate Doc. No. 102), set aside only the 
proclamations of February 22, 1897, suspending the 
reservations which were made upon the recommenda- 
tion of the committee of the academy until March I, 
1898, presumably to give time for the adjustment 
of private claims and to more carefully delimit the 
reservations. For this purpose an appropriation 
of $150,000 to survey the reservations under the 
supervision of the Director of the Geological Sur- 
vey was made. The provisos attached to this ap- 
propriation embody the most important forestry 
legislation thus far enacted by Congress. These 
provisos had been in the main formulated in the 
above-cited bill known as the McRae Bill, which 
was passed by the House of Representatives and 
the Senate of the Fifty -third Congress — without, 
however, becoming a law ; and again had passed 
the House in the Fifty-fourth Congress, it being 
the legislation advocated by the American For- 
estry Association as a first step toward a more 
elaborate forest administration of the public tim- 



406 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

ber lands. Excluding minor items, the law pro- 
vides that — 

"All public lands heretofore designated and 
reserved by the President of the United States 
under the provisions of the act approved March 
third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, the orders 
for which shall be and remain in force and effect, 
unsuspended and unrevoked, and all public lands 
that may hereafter be set aside and reserved as 
public forest reserves under said act, shall be as 
far as practicable controlled and administered in 
accordance with the following provisions : — 

" ' No public forest reservation shall be estab- 
lished, except to improve and protect the forest 
within the reservation, or for the purpose of secur- 
ing favorable conditions of water flow, and to 
furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use 
and necessities of citizens of the United States ; 
but it is not the purpose or intent of these pro- 
visions or of the act providing for such reserva- 
tions to authorize the inclusion therein of lands 
more valuable for the mineral therein or for agri- 
cultural purposes than for forest purposes. 

" ' For the purpose of preserving the living and 
growing timber and promoting the younger growth 
on forest reservations, the Secretary of the Interior, 
under such rules and regulations as he shall pre- 
scribe, may cause to be designated and appraised 
so much of the dead, matured, or large growth of 
trees found on such forest reservations as may be 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 407 

compatible with the proper utilization of the forests 
thereon, and may sell the same for not less than 
the appraised value in such quantities to each pur- 
chaser as he shall prescribe, to be used in the 
State or Territory in which such timber reserva- 
tion may be situated, respectively, but not for 
export therefrom. Before such sale shall take 
place, notice thereof shall be given by the Com- 
missioner of the General Land Office for not less 
than sixty days, by publication in a newspaper of 
general circulation, published in the county in 
which the timber is situated, if any is therein pub- 
lished, and if not, then in a newspaper of general 
circulation published nearest to the reservation, 
and also in a newspaper of general circulation 
published at the capital of the State or Territory 
where such reservation exists ; payments for such 
timber to be made to the receiver of the local land 
office of the district wherein said timber may be 
sold, under such rules and regulations as the Sec- 
retary of the Interior may prescribe ; and the 
moneys arising therefrom shall be accounted for 
by the receiver of such land office to the Com- 
missioner of the General Land Office in a separate 
account, and shall be covered into the Treasury. 
Such* timber, before being sold, shall be marked 
and designated, and shall be cut and removed 
under the supervision of some person appointed 
for that purpose by the Secretary of the Interior, 
not interested in the purchase or removal of such 



408 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

timber nor in the employment of the purchaser 
thereof. Such supervisor shall make a report in 
writing to the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office and to the receiver in the land office in 
which such reservation shall be located of his 
doings in the premises. 

" ' Upon the recommendation of the Secretary of 
the Interior, with the approval of the President, 
after sixty days' notice thereof, published in two 
papers of general circulation in the State or Terri- 
tory wherein any forest reservation is situated and 
near the said reservation, any public lands em- 
braced within the limits of any forest reservation 
which, after due examination by personal inspec- 
tion of a competent person appointed for that pur- 
pose by the Secretary of the Interior, shall be 
found better adapted for mining or for agricultural 
purposes than for forest usage, may be restored to 
the public domain. And any mineral lands in any 
forest reservation which have been or which may 
be shown to be such, and subject to entry under 
the existing mining laws of the United States and 
the rules and regulations applying thereto, shall 
continue to be subject to such location and entry, 
notwithstanding any provisions herein contained.' " 

The law authorizes the Secretary of the Interior 
to permit the use of timber and stone by bona-fide 
settlers, miners, etc., for fire wood, fencing, build- 
ings, mining, prospecting, and other domestic 
purposes. It protects the rights of actual settlers 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 409 

within the reservations, empowers them to build 
wagon-roads to their holdings, enables them to 
build schools and churches, and provides for the 
exchange of such for allotments outside the reser- 
vation limits. The state within which a reserva- 
tion is located maintains its jurisdiction over all 
persons within the boundaries of the reserve. 

Under the above enactment, the commissioner 
of the General Land Office has formulated rules 
and regulations for the forest reservations, and a 
survey of the reserves is being made by the United 
States Geological Survey, the appropriations for 
such a survey having been continued from year 
to year, and the date for the segregation of agri- 
cultural lands and their return to the public domain 
open for entry having been deferred. 

The appointment of forest superintendents, ran- 
gers, etc., although not with technical knowledge, to 
take charge of the reservations marks the beginning 
of a settled policy of the United States Government 
to take care of its long-neglected forest lands. 

Gradually the people of the Western states, who 
were opposed to the reservation policy, believing 
it an interference of their rights and an impedi- 
ment to settlement, have learned to appreciate the 
wisdom and the object of the reservations, espe- 
cially in the irrigation districts. Annually new 
areas are being reserved and the administrative 
features developed. At present writing there are 
set aside 58,850,000 acres in 56 reservations, in- 



410 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 

eluding two in Alaska, varying in size from a few 
thousand to several million acres. 

The administration of these reserves is still of 
the crudest kind, and forestry practice is as yet 
hardly attempted. In fact, the organization of the 
forestry service is still in embryonic condition. 
The administration of the reserves lies with the 
Department of the Interior, through a Forestry 
Division, under the Commissioner of the General 
Land Office. Meanwhile the technical knowledge 
is gradually developed in the Department of Agri- 
culture. 

The Forestry Division of the Department of 
Agriculture, dignified by being elevated to a 
bureau in 1901, is still without administrative 
function and occupies only an advisory position. 
But by an increase in appropriations ($146,280 
for the year 1902) it has been able to extend its 
field considerably. It makes so-called working 
plans for the timber lands of private forest owners 
and planting plans, and investigates forest condi- 
tions, rates of growth, and other matters of in- 
terest, as before, only on an extended scale. It 
should, of course, be in charge of the public forest 
reservations, and introduce such technical manage- 
ment of the same as the case may permit. 

To add to the curiosities and incongruities of the 
situation a third agency, the Geological Survey, has 
in charge the survey and description of the forest 
reservations with a view of delimiting the areas to 



FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 411 

be kept permanently as such. We have, then, three 
government offices, organically disconnected, albeit 
working in harmony as far as possible, intrusted 
with the forestry interests of the federal govern- 
ment. It is hoped that only a short time will elapse 
before logic will have its day, unity will be estab- 
lished, and a forest administration under the Bureau 
of Forestry will be inaugurated. 

Curiously, too, we find that in one of our outlying 
possessions, the Philippine Islands, we are farther 
progressed in establishing a proper forest policy 
than at home. Here the Spanish Government had 
long ago established a forestry bureau to super- 
intend the exploitation of the public timber lands. 
The United States fell heir to the lands, some 20 
or 30 million acres, and to the bureau. By good 
fortune the administration of this bureau came into 
the hands of an army officer who had for some 
years interested himself in the forestry question, 
and under his efficient guidance the management 
of this part of the public domain promises soon to 
be on a rational basis. 

We see then that the Federal Government has 
made a fair beginning toward establishing a definite 
forest policy, that a few states have also entered 
upon more or less definite plans to advance a state 
policy or secure private interest, and that the num- 
ber of private owners who contemplate the advisa- 
bility of practising forestry on their properties is 
rapidly growing. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER I. 

Page 6. Referring to Dearth of English Literature on Econ- 
omy of Resources. — The conceptions and ideas contained in 
this chapter regarding the classification of natural resources 
and the relation of the state to them were first formulated by 
the writer in his Vice-Presidential Address before the Section 
of Economic Science of the Association for the Advancement 
of Science, entitled " The Providential Functions of Govern- 
ment, with Special Reference to Natural Resources, 11 and 
printed in the volume of Proceedings for 1895. The econom- 
ics of natural resources have received only incidental and 
scanty consideration by English writers. The only publica- 
tion known to the writer which discusses the subject in a 
broad manner is by G. P. Osborne, " Principles of Eco- 
nomics. 11 The satisfaction of human wants in so far as their 
satisfaction depends on material resources. Cincinnati. 1893. 

P. 9. — The fact that " emotion rather than reason, senti- 
ment rather than argument, are the prime movers of society " 
has been most forcibly and convincingly argued by Lester F. 
Ward in his " Psychic Factors of Civilization " and " Dynamic 
Sociology." 

P. 16. Eminent Domain. — In all modern states the right 
of eminent domain {dominium emiueus), i.e. the right of the 
state to dispossess private owners or to restrict them in the 
use of their property for the sake of the common weal, and 
for public purposes, is well established. At first exercised 
only by specific legislation in individual cases, since the end 
of the eighteenth century the right of eminent domain has 

4i5 



4l6 APPENDIX. 

become a matter of constitutional provision and of general 
legislation. The modern legislation also fully recognizes the 
right of the owner to adequate compensation and provides 
methods of procedure. 

In the United States the taking of land in invitum and the 
manner of ascertaining and securing the compensation is pro- 
vided for in the statutes of each state. This right of eminent 
domain has been most frequently exercised for the purpose 
of roads, railroads, canals, bridges, etc., for the reason that, 
although these uses of land are usually accompanied by 
profits to individuals, they are primarily to serve a public 
use. There seems to be no reason why the same right 
should not be extended in favor of other public utilities, like 
forests. 

The decision as to the public necessity of its exercise is in 
the United States, as in England, left to the courts, and the 
determination of the award for damage to a jury. In Germany 
these decisions lie with the administration. The exercise of 
eminent domain for the purpose of securing the protection of 
forest cover, as practised by European states, is discussed in 
Chapters X and XI. 



NOTES TO CHAPTER II. 

P. 21. Necessity of Wood Materials. — The necessity of 
wood for civilization, together with the constant increase in 
its use as industrial activity increases, is perhaps best illus- 
trated by the statistics of imports of wood in European coun- 
tries, which show the most remarkable increase of per capita 
consumption due to iadustrial development. 

In Great Britain, a country which supplies itself almost 
entirely by importation, and hence uses wood probably least 
wastefully, during the decade 1856-66 the import was 148 
million cubic feet ; during the following decade it had grown 
more than 60 per cent, namely, to 244 million feet. During 



NOTES. 



417 



the decade 1880-90 the imports averaged round 300 million 
cubic feet, with an average value of $75,000,000 ; and during 
the last decade the following changes in amounts and values 
took place : — 



Year. 


Million Feet. 


Million Dollars. 


189I . 


» • • • • 


350 


78 


1894 . 


* • • • • 


385 


92 


1896 . 


» • • • • 


435 


106 


1897 . , 


► • ♦ ♦ • 


500 


127 


1898 . 


. 


455 


117 



— an increase in forty years by over 200 per cent, while the 
population only increased 42 per cent. 

In France, which is also relying upon imports to a very 
large extent (over 80 per cent in value), we find a still more 
striking increase of wood consumption, as may be judged 
from the statement of the values of wood imports, which were 
as follows : — 



Year. 


Million Francs. 


Year. 


Million Francs. 


1827 .... 


20.4 


1875 .... 


164. 1 


1840 .... 


34-9 


1880 .... 


278 


1850 .... 


50.1 


1890 .... 


157.9 


i860 .... 


I23.6 


I9OO .... 


177 


1868 .... 


1794 







The wood exports increased during these seventy years from 
4.5 million to 47 million francs, leaving, nevertheless, a total 
increase in excess of imports by over 700 per cent to satisfy 
the needs above home production, while the population in- 
creased about 20 per cent in that period, the home produc- 
tion slightly decreasing since 1870. 
2 E 



4i8 



APPENDIX. 



In the case of France, deforestation at home may account 
in part for this increase of imports, especially in the earlier 
decades. Not so in Germany, the land famous for its con- 
servative forest management and thrift. 

Germany, which until 1863 was an export country, its ex- 
ports of wood exceeding its imports in that year still by 
125,000 tons, after that year shows a constant increase of 
wood imports, and to-day Germany pays over $70,000,000 for 
wood in excess of its exports and in addition to its own crop. 
The excess of imports over exports averaged per year as 
follows : — 



Period. 


Thousand 
tons. 


Million 
marks. 


Period. 


Thousand 
tons. 


Million 
marks. 


1865-69 . . 


890 


— 


1892 . . . 


3?ooo 


I40.7 


1870-79 . . 


1,966 


— 


1894 . . . 


2,506 


II8.8 


1880-89 . . 


1,650 


63-5 


1896 . . . 


3>°9° 


171 


189O . . . 


2,892 


I28.5 


1898 . . . 


4435 


286 



an increase in 40 years by 400 per cent in amount, in 20 years 
by over 350 per cent in values, besides a considerable increase 
in its home production, as is shown in Chapter X, while the 
population increased only by about 38 per cent. These figures 
would indicate in general an increase of 5 to 10 times in per 
capita consumption ; increase in prices accounting only to a 
limited degree for increase in the figures. 

In spite of the substitution of iron and stone for timber wood 
and of coal for fuel wood, the wood consumption in Germany 
has increased from about 1,625 million cubic feet in 1872 to 
2,051 million in 1898. The consumption of fuel wood, to be 
sure, has lately decreased, but not in proportion to the coal 
mined, for the annual consumption of wood and coal per 
capita was as shown on opposite page. (This table leaves 
out importations, which add from 3 to 6 cubic feet, mainly to 
timber wood). 



NOTES. 



419 





Timber wood. 


Fuel wood. 


Coal. 




Cubic ft. 


Per cent. 


Cubic ft. 


Per cent. 


Tons. 


Per cent. 


1872-75 


13 


IOO 


27 


IOO 


I.062 


IOO 


1876-80 


12.4 


95 


26.3 


95 


1. 169 


110 


1881-85 


12.4 


95 


24.8 


92 


1.445 


I36 


1886-90 


13-4 


103 


23.8 


88 


1.686 


159 


1891-95 


H 


I08 


22.4 


83 


1-939 


183 


1896 


I4.5 


III 


22 


82 


2.153 


203 



P. 22. Proportion of Wood consumed for Necessities. — In 
this connection it would have been proper to point out that 
this consumption refers to the net wood product. The un- 
avoidable very large waste, which occurs in the shaping of the 
raw material for use, and which in most cases is a total loss, 
amounts to almost 50 per cent, — that is to say, of the cubic 
contents of a round average log only half the wood falls from 
the saw in useful size, the balance being turned into sawdust, 
slabs, edgings, etc., which only under special conditions can 
be made useful. In addition, a large amount of wood in the 
shape of top and branches is left in the woods unused, unless 
a dense population or special industrial development makes its 
use possible and profitable ; this loss may amount to another 
20-30 per cent, so that of the wood of a forest-grown tree often 
not more than 20 to 30 per cent appears in useful shape. 

The following table shows how, in the usual mill practice, 
the loss varies with the size of material, and, at the same time, 
the value per cubic foot of forest-grown material increases 
with the size of log, a financial argument against the cutting 
of the smaller trees and also an economic argument for the 
urgency of devising uses for the mill waste and forest waste. 
Much of this waste can be utilized, but is usually thrown 
aside through ignorance of its value, or lack of handling 
facilities. 



420 



APPENDIX. 



Value Accretion and Waste of Wood. 





Contents in 


cubic feet. 




Price a) 


$6.00 per M ft. 
B.M. 


Diam. of log 






Waste per 
cent. 






10 ft. long. 
Inches. 


Round 
log. 


Mill 
product. 


Cost per 

log. 

Cents. 


Cost per cubic 
foot. 

Cents. 


8 


3-5 


i-3 


63 


9 


2.6 


12 

16 


7-9 
14 


4 
8 


50 

43 


30 
60 


3-8 
4-3 


20 


21.7 


14 


35 


132 


4.8 


24 


31-3 


21 


33 


150 


4.8 


30 
40 


49 
87 


35 

67 


28 
23 


253 
486 


5.6 


50 


136.2 


no 


20 


993 


5.8 



The second column gives the actual cubic contents ; the third 
gives the feet board measure, as noted in the most favorable 
log scale translated into cubic feet by dividing by 1 2 ; the 
third column shows the amount of waste experienced at 
the saw ; the last column shows what the cubic foot actually 
in the log has been paid for, if a stumpage price per M feet 
board measure prevailed. 

P. 27. Wood for Fuel in the United States. — The census 
of 1880 made a comprehensive canvass of the fuel wood con- 
sumption, which showed that 33,375,000 persons used wood 
for domestic fuel at the rate of 4 1 cords per capita, while the 
total consumption for domestic, railroad, steamboat, and 
manufacturing purposes was nearly 146 million cords, the 
total valued at $322,000,000, or 2.9 cords per capita, nearly 
twelve times the German consumption. No statistics are at 
hand to estimate the present consumption of wood for fuel in 
the United States, but there are no reasons to assume that it 
has decreased appreciably in spite of the fact of the enormous 
increase in coal consumption, which is mainly due to indus- 



NOTES. 421 

trial development. According to the United States Treasury 
Statistical Bureau's Summary, the world's production of coal 
rose from 144 million tons in i860 to 450 million tons in 1883, 
and to 866 million tons in 1 901, an increase in 40 years of 
over 500 per cent, and since 1820, when coal was first more 
generally recognized as fuel, the increase has been 4500 per 
cent. Five-sixths of the present consumption was furnished 
for the last 30 years by Great Britain and Germany, and 
Belgium, the largest consumer of coal per capita after Great 
Britain. The coal production of the United States, which 
in 1870 furnished but 15 per cent of the world's supply, 
has grown steadily until in 1901 it represented, with 295 
million tons, 34 per cent, outstripping Great Britain and 
Germany. 

What the substitution of coal for fuel means may be realized 
by translating the coal consumption into wood consumption. 
The fuel value of a ton of coal may be set equal to about 100 
cubic feet of wood ; hence the 1 70 million tons of coal now 
consumed per annum in the United States supplant 17 billion 
cubic feet of wood. To raise this amount of wood continu- 
ously not less than 300 million acres, more than half our pres- 
ent acreage (at 56 cubic feet per acre), would have to be kept 
under good forestry management. 

P. 27. Cellulose and Wood Pulp Industry. — Wood pulp is 
either mechanically ground or chemically prepared, when it is 
called cellulose, or chemical fibre. Most of it is used for the 
manufacture of paper. The progress of the wood pulp indus- 
try in the United States has been marvellous, as shown by the 
growth in daily capacity of running wood pulp mills. 

While in 1881 this was less than 800,000 lbs., it had more 
than doubled in 1887, and again more than doubled within 
two years in 1889, increasing steadily from that time. 

The following figures, taken from Lockwood's Paper Trade 
Journal, include both mechanical pulp and chemical fibre, but 
do not take into account small amounts produced by paper 
mills directly : — 



>2 


APPENDIX. 






lbs. 


lbs. 


1889 . 


. 3,814,600 


1894 


• 7,599,900 


1890 


. 4,141,700 


1895 . 


• 8,330,400 


1891 


• 4,507,700 


1896 . 


9,509,000 


1892 


• 5,323,300 


1897 . 


. 10,438,000 


1893 . 


. 6,495,400 







From data collected by the twelfth census the daily capacity 
for 1899 may be estimated at round 12 million pounds. In 
other words, in the last ten years the capacity of the mills 
has been trebled. 

The census statistics unfortunately are not collected in a 
manner which makes those of one census comparable with 
those of others, as they either combine or separate paper and 
pulp, the raw and the finished product. This combination is 
explained by the fact that many mills produce their own pulp. 
Only the census of 1870, 1880, and 1890 separate the pulp 
business, showing respectively value of products of round 
$49,000,000, $57,000,000 and $79,000,000 for wood pulp alone. 
For the census of 1900, the manufactures of paper and pulp 
were reported together as representing a product of $127,326,- 
162, from 763 active establishments and 29 idle ones. There 
is no possibility of differentiating precisely how much of this 
value is to be credited to wood pulp, but apparently only 
$28,000,000 are so credited as the cost of the wood materials 
to the manufacturers, while only $14,000,000 represent other 
materials, and $27,000,000 are for chemicals, fuel, etc. The 
total product of the wood pulp is given in amount as round 
1 1 80 tons, of which nearly one-half was produced by the es- 
tablishments using it, about one-half of the total being ground, 
the other chemically prepared pulp. In another table it is re- 
ported that 1,986,310 cords of wood were used by establish- 
ments using wood, and also 630,000 tons purchased wood 
materials, which may in part have been covered by importation. 

The amount of other paper stock used is only 1,000,000 
tons, valued at $15,000,000, indicating that about one-half of 
our paper is made of wood. 



NOTES. 423 

We may be safe from these figures to estimate the total 
wood consumption for this one manufacture, paper, as round 
2\ million cords, in addition to a certain amount of fuel wood 
and an import, in spite of high tariff rates, of about 70,000 
tons in excess of exports, worth between $2,000,000 and 
$3,000,000. The wood value of this industry is then over 
$30,000,000. 

Spruce constitutes about 76 per cent of all the wood used ; 
in this amount, however, a considerable proportion of balsam 
fir, and lately hemlock, is included ; 13 per cent is credited to 
poplar, and n per cent to other kinds. (For a brief but com- 
prehensive description of the industry, see Report for 1890, 
Division of Forestry, United States Department of Agricul- 
ture.) 

To secure the round 2 million cords of spruce alone, almost 
entirely cut in the northeastern states, at least 200,000 acres 
of virgin mixed woods must be annually culled, and over 
2 million acres in pure spruce stands would have to be main- 
tained under good forestry management to secure this product 
continuously. 

The growth of this industry in European countries is not 
less remarkable, as may be seen from the fact that while in 
1870 there were in Germany and Austria 92 wood pulp mills, 
in 1890 there were 836 reported, and 911 in 1896. In Sweden 
the export of wood pulp rose from 9003 tons in 1881 to 133,- 
889 tons in 1895. In Germany the output of wood pulp con- 
sumes now over 500,000 cords of wood per annum, and, in the 
light of the anxieties which have lately been aroused in the 
United States regarding the enormous increase in this drain 
of our forest resources, it is significant to read the comment of 
one of the leading foresters of Germany : " The advantage of 
this industry for forest management is that the small sizes 
of coniferous wood, which could formerly be sold only as fuel 
wood at small prices or could not be sold at all, now have 
found a ready market, and by this competition the wood prices, 
especially for small wood, have risen. A profitable forest 



424 APPENDIX. 

management for private owners has in many places become 
possible only through the wood pulp industry." 

This would indicate that in Germany it is the small-sized 
material, the tops, which go into this manufacture, while with 
us the logs are used, the tops are left in the woods, and no 
provision for re-growth is made. 

P. 28. Substitution of Other Materials. — Whatever the 
reasoning regarding the possible substitution of other mate- 
rials for wood, the historical evidence so far has been the 
other way : new and more extensive use of wood has accom- 
panied the development of these other materials. 

The increase of wood consumption parallel with the increase 
of consumption of its substitutes, coal, iron, and stone, simply ac- 
centuates the influence of the great modern industrial develop- 
ment and increase of civilization, which means increase in wants. 

P. 28. Tanning Bark. — The leather industry, which in the 
year 1900 produced, with a capital of over $356,000,000 
and a wage of over $105,000,000, a product valued at over 
$615,000,000, relies for the tanning, in spite of the in- 
creased use of substitutes, still mainly on the bark of two 
kinds of trees, namely, oak and hemlock. Of the amount 
spent for tan materials ($17,000,000), nearly $12,000,000 is 
for such bark and bark extracts, denoting a consumption of 
about i£ million cords of tan bark, as against about half that 
consumption in 1880. 

The consumption of hemlock bark is nearly three times as 
great as that of oak. Consequently the largest production is 
to be found in western Pennsylvania and New York, where 
the largest supplies of this material are to be found, these two 
States producing about half the cordage consumed. One ton 
of hemlock bark will tan about 300 pounds of sole and 400 
pounds of upper leather. The usual harvest of hemlock bark 
averages 12 to 15 cords per acre, worth $6 to $7 per cord. 
As long as the timber is used afterwards, which is now prob- 
ably done in most places, this utilization of a by-product is 
one of the important economies in forest utilization. 



NOTES. 425 

A very full account of the industry as far as its relation 
to forest supplies is concerned may be found in "Reports 
on Forestry" by F. B. Hough, Vol. Ill, 1882, pp. 68 
to 128. 

P. 29. The Naval Store Industry. — The naval store in- 
dustry is confined to the pineries of the South, — Alabama, 
Florida, and Georgia being the principal producers. It 
supplies mainly materials used for the manufacture of var- 
nishes, paints, soaps, and in the rubber and paper industries, 
besides tar and pitch, and has grown most unprecedentedly 
during the last decade. While from 1850 to 1890 the increase 
of value in products was only from less than $3,000,000 to 
a little less than $8,000,000, in the decade from 1890 to 1900 
it rose, according to the census, to $20,344,888. The capital 
employed and the wages paid trebled, while the value more 
than doubled. This great increase may be only apparent, the 
difficulty of gathering statistics in previous censuses having 
produced too low figures ; nevertheless, increase in industrial 
development must account for a large part of the increase. 
Nearly all the rosin produced and nearly one-half of the spirits 
of turpentine are exported. 

Through the investigations of the Forestry Division in 1890 
to 1892 (see Report of Division of Forestry for 1892 for full 
description of this industry) it was established that this in- 
dustry can be carried on without any necessary detriment to 
the forest and the timber product, but unfortunately the 
necessary precautions and methods for such harmless use of 
these by-products are mostly not practised. 

P. 32. Relative Position of Forest Industries in 1890. — 
Census statistics of the employment of capital, persons em- 
ployed, and wages in the minor forest industries are either 
absent or more or less deficient. Moreover, in an industry in 
which many people are only temporarily or incidentally and 
for a part of the year engaged, the exploitation of the forests 
makes a close enumeration well nigh impossible. Hence, in 
comparison with other industries concentrated at centres of 



426 



APPENDIX. 



production or carried on with continuity, the forest industries 
lose relatively. 

To get a closer approximation to the truth, and a more just 
appreciation of the comparative significance of the forest 
resource, the writer, upon the basis of census data of 1890 and 
other information, made an attempt in 1896 to supply these 
deficiencies by estimate. In this estimate all wood and other 
forest products, as railroad ties and timbers, telegraph poles, 
fence material, cord wood, bark, and other by-products are 
included, leading to the following result : — 

Leading Industries Compared. 



Articles. 



Agriculture 

Forest products, total . . . . 
Forest industries, enumerated 
Forest products, not enumer- 
ated (estimated) .... 
Manufactures using wood (see 
table on opposite page) . . 

Mineral products, total .... 

Coal 

Gold and silver 

Pig-iron 

Manufactures of iron and steel 

Leather 

Leather manufactures .... 
Woollen manufactures .... 
Cotton manufactures 



Capital 

in- 
volved. 


Em- 
ployees. 


Wages. 


Mil- 
lions. 


Thou- 
sands. 


Mil- 
lions. 


15,982 


8,286 





562 


348 


102 


+ 


+ 


+ 


543 


5i3 


294 


343 

486 

134 
414 
102 
118 


300 
57 
34 

176 
48 

186 


109 
40 
16 
96 

25 

88 


297 
354 


219 
222 


77 
70 



Raw 

mate- 
rial. 



Mil- 
lions. 



245 



442 



no 

3 2 7 

136 

x 53 
203 

155 



Prod- 
ucts. 



Mil- 
lions. 

2460 

1044 

446 

598 

907 

610 
160 

99 
146 

479 
178 
289 
338 
268 



To secure the statement regarding the manufactures using 
wood, these were classified according to the estimated per- 
centage of wood entering into their products and assuming 
that capital, labor, and value of products stand in the same 
proportion as the raw materials used. As a matter of fact, 
there is probably more labor employed in shaping wood than 
this percentage would indicate. 



NOTES. 427 

Forest Industries and Manufactures Using Wood. 



Articles. 



Forest industries enu- 
merated: 

Lumber and mill 
products .... 

Timber products not 
manufactured at 
mill .... 

Naval stores . . 
Total .... 



Manufactures practi 

cally all wood: 
Cigar boxes .. , 
Packing boxes 
Carriage and wagon 

stock .... 
Carpentering . 
Cooperage . . , 
Furniture factory 

products . . , 
Kindling wood 
Lasts .... 
Planing-mill products 
Matches ... 
Wood, turned and 

carved . . , 
Woodenware . 
Wood pulp . . 
Wood carpet . 

Total .... 

Manufactures in which 
wood represents about 
50 per cent of the raw 
materials:* Total . 

Wood percentage . . 

Manufactures in which 
wood represents about 
33% percent: t Total 

Wood percentage . . 

Manufactures in which 
wood represents about 
10 per cent: I Total 

Wood percentage . . 

Manufactures of wood: 
Total 



Capital. 



Thous'nds 
$496,340 



61,541 
4,063 



561,943 



3,374 
13,018 

13,028 

8i,543 
17,817 

66,394 

1,300 

907 

120,271 

1,941 

7,826 
2,712 

7-455 
333 



337,9o8 



169,983 

89.99 1 



321,059 

107,619 



76,841 
7>68 4 



543,402 



Em- 
ployees. 



Hundreds 

2,862 

461 
153 



3,477 



55 
140 

109 

1,409 

247 

639 

18 

8 

869 
18 



3,650 



J, 356 

678 



2,143 

7*4 



915 

92 



5»i34 



Wages. 



Thous'nds 
$87,784 



™,354 
2,933 



102,071 



2,134 
6 ,477 

5,208 

94,524 
11,665 

34,47i 
772 

572 
48,970 

344 

4,267 

1,237 
1,229 

155 



212,027 



71,460 

35,730 



123,588 

4^,196 



46,854 

4,685 



293,638 



Raw 
material. 



Thous'nds 
$231,556 



11,007 
3,5o6 



245,169 



3,567 
14,245 

1,388 

137,847 
2.637 

38,796 
1,187 

33 1 
104,927 

935 

3,947 

i,499 

2,005 

214 



331,523 



"4,383 

57,i9 2 



148.578 

49.526 



49,291 

4,929 



443,170 



Value 
of product. 



Thous'nds 
$403,668 



34,290 
8,077 



446,034 



7,092 
25,513 

16,262 

281,195 

38,618 

94,871 
2,402 

1,239 

183,682 

2,194 

10.940 

3,598 

4,628 

5" 



672,750 



239,408 

"4,704 



318218 

106,072 



131,820 

13> l8 2 



906,708 



* Includes carriages and wagon factory product, children's carriages and sleds, 
steam and street cars, coffins and burial caskets, chairs, wheelbarrows, sewing 
machine cases, artificial limbs, and refrigerators, and shipbuilding. 

t Includes agricultural implements, billiard tables, railroad and street car re- 
pairs, furniture repairs, washing machines and wringers, organs and pianos. 

X Includes blacksmithing and wheelwrighting, bridges, brooms and brushes, 
gunpowder, artists' materials, windmills, toys and games, sporting goods, lead 
pencils, pipes and pumps. 



428 



APPENDIX. 



The proportions in which the various kinds of products 
contribute toward the total of $1,044,000,000 in value were 
figured as follows : — 





Million 


Million 




cu. ft. 


dollars. 


Mill products, lumber, shingles, laths, pickets, 






staves, carriage, implement, and furniture 






stock, etc. (35,000 million feet B.M.) 


6,000 


450 


Railroad construction (ties, bridge timber, 






telegraph poles) 


550 


45 


Export timber 


12 


5 


Wood pulp * 


100 


5 


Miscellaneous bolt sizes .... 


200 


50 


Total materials requiring log and bolt 






sizes 


6,862 


555 


Fuel and fencing 


1 8,000 


450 


Charcoal 


250 


7 


Dyewood and gunpowder .... 


16 


•5 


Naval stores 




8.5 


Wood alcohol and acetic acid 




2.5 


Tanning material ...... 




15 


Maple syrup and sugar 




5-5 


Grand total .... 


25,128 


1044 



The cubic contents are estimates of the forest-grown material 
which might furnish the amounts of prepared materials at the 
given values. They give an insight into the possibilities and 
necessities of supply and its character. The fuel wood con- 
sumption in the above estimate has been assumed to have 
been somewhat decreased from that of the census of 1880, the 
value per cord ($2.20) to have remained the same. 



NOTES. 



429 



As will be seen in the notes to Chapter XI, the census of 
1900 places the value of the mill products, including an 
uncertain part of the rest of bolt and log size material, at 
$566,832,984, to which at least the wood pulp with round 
$28,000,000 must be added, increasing this most important 
portion of forest products by about 10 per cent. In the minor 
forest products the naval store industry has increased to over 
$20,000,000, the wood alcohol industry to nearly $4,000,000, 
the tanning materials being slightly reduced and the maple 
sugar industry slightly increased. 

The present value of all forest products, at places of first 
manufacture or consumption, may then be safely placed at 
round $1,100,000,000. The value of the wood manufacture 
has naturally also increased, increasing by so much the eco- 
nomic significance of our forest resource. To gain an insight 
into the importance of the forest resource in our industrial 
world the following comparison will serve, in which the manu- 
factures requiring wood as an essential part of the manufacture, 
including sawmills, etc., are placed in opposition to all the 
manufactures of the country. In this comparison the reduc- 
tion for wood value only as given in the table on p. 427 has 
not been made. 



1890. 


Capital. 


Product. 


Employees. 


Wages. 


Million. 


Million. 


Thousand. 


Million. 


All manufactures . . . 
Manufactures dependent 

Wood manufactures repre- 
sent of all manufactures 


6,525 

1,402 

21% 


9.372 
i,75 6 

19% 


4712 
1,093 

23% 


2,283 
542 

24% 



430 



APPENDIX. 



P. 33. Wealth of the Nation. — The total wealth of the 
United States was estimated, upon the basis of census data, 
in 1890 to be distributed about as follows : — 



Real estate not in farms . 

Farm property in land . 

Farm property in cattle and equipment . 

Railways and telegraph lines . 

Capital in large manufacturing industries 

Mines, quarries, and their capital stock . 

Gold, silver, coin, bullion 

All other property 



Billion dollars. 
26.2 

13-3 
2.7 

9-3 
6.5 
1.2 
1.1 
47 



65.0 



P. 35. Forest Area of the World. — As has been pointed 
out in various parts of this volume the forest area gives but 
an imperfect and unreliable basis for a discussion of the wood 
supply question ; the contents and their condition and the 
accessibility to wood-consuming nations being the much 
more significant factors. 

The table on p. 431 condenses information, more or less 
reliable, regarding some of the more important forest areas of 
the world. While these figures cannot claim absolute cor- 
rectness, authorities varying more or less, they give at least 
approximate ideas of the relative position of the countries 
enumerated. 

P. 51. Wood Consumption in United States. — Making 
allowance for the increases appearing in the census of 1900, 
we may now roughly state our consumption at 26 billion cubic 
feet, one-third of which must be of log or bolt size, — a 
yearly harvest which could still be continuously supplied by 
our forest area of 500 million acres, if it were managed 
upon forestry principles, namely, as a crop harvested with 
due regard to its continuous reproduction, and if proper 
economy and differentiation of relative usefulness of material 
were practised. 



NOTES. 



431 



Country. 

United States 

(see pp. 335-339) 
Canada . . . 

(probably avail 
able, only) 
Europe . 

Russia . 

Finland 

Sweden 

Germany 

Austria 

France . 

Hungary 

Spain . 

Norway 

Bulgaria 

Italy . 

Bosnia and 
Herzegovina 

Turkey . . 

Roumania . 

Great Britain 

Servia . . 

Switzerland 

Greece . . 

Belgium . 

Portugal . 

Denmark . 

Holland . 

Luxemburg 
India . . . 
Australia . . 
Japan . . . 



Forest area. 


Per cent of 


Per capita. 


Millionacres. 


total area. 


Acres. 


500 


26 


7 


(650) 


(34) 


(9) 


800 


38 


145 


(350) 


(17) 


(64) 


767 


3i 


2.05 


471-5 


37-6 


4-55 


5°-5 


61.6 


20.37 


48.9 


44 


9 


34-9 


25.8 


.67 


24.3 


32.3 


1.03 


23.8 


17.8 


6-3 


22.7 


28 


1.30 


21.2 


17 


1.30 


17 


21 


8.50 


10.8 


45 


3-25 


10.2 


14.2 


•33 


6.8 


53 


4-33 


6-3 


8 




5-i 


16.9 


1. 00 


3 


3-8 


.20 


2.4 


2.0 


1.03 


2.1 


20.5 


■73 


2 


15.8 


•93 


i-3 


17 


.20 


.8 


3-5 


•15 


.6 


6.4 


•25 


.6 


7 


.12 


.2 


3°4 


.90 


ii5 


12 


.40 


57 


60 


1.45 



State 
ownership. 
Per cent. 

I.+ 



63 

40 
27.2 

329 

7-3 
11.8 
16 
84 
11.6 

4 

70.2 

47 
3-6 

4.4 
80 

5 
8 

24 

50 
3° 



432 APPENDIX. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER III. 

P. 63. Investigations in Forest Meteorology. — The results 
of the Bavarian observations, as well as the methods pursued, 
were published by Dr. Ernst Ebermayer in " Die physikalischen 
Einwirkungen des Waldes auf Luft und Boden und seine 
klimatologische und hygienische Bedeutung," Berlin, 1873. 
A very full summary is to be found in F. B. Hough's "Report 
upon Forestry," Vol. I, Washington, Government Printing 
Office, 1878. A more complete discussion of the whole 
question and record of the investigations into "forest in- 
fluences " is to be found in Bulletin 7, Division of Forestry, 
U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1887, with further additions 
to be found in H. R. doc. 181, 55th Congress, 3d session, 
1899, from which sources the following data are reproduced. 

P. 64. Inefficiency of Rain Gauges. — The inaccuracy of 
the rainfall measurements by the ordinary unprotected gauges 
is explained by Mr. Cleveland Abbe, in the Bulletin cited, as 
follows : " In the case of ordinary rainfalls we invariably 
have the air full of large and small drops, including the finer 
particles that constitute a drizzling mist and the fragments of 
drops that are broken up by spattering. All these are de- 
scending at various velocities which, according to Stokes, 
depend on their size and density and the viscous resistance of 
the air ; the particles of hail descend even faster than drops 
of water, and the flakes of snow descend slower than ordinary 
drops. Now, when the wind strikes an obstacle, the deflected 
currents on all sides of the obstacle move past the latter more 
rapidly ; therefore the open mouth of the rain gauge has 
above it an invisible layer of air whose horizontal motion is 
more rapid than that of the wind a little distance higher up. 
Of the falling raindrops, the larger ones may descend with a 
rapidity sufficient to penetrate this swiftly moving layer, but the 
slower falling drops will be carried over the leeward of the 
gauge, and, failing to enter it, will miss being counted as rain- 
fall, although they go on to the ground near by. Evidently, 



NOTES. 



433 



the stronger the wind the larger will be the proportion of small 
drops that are carried past the gauge ; or again, the larger 
the proportion of small drops and light flakes of snow that 
constitute a given shower, the more a gauge will lose for a 
given velocity of wind. In brief, the loss will depend both 
upon the velocity of the wind and the velocity of the descent 
of the precipitation ; therefore, a gauge will, in general, catch 
less in winter than in summer; less in a climate where light, 
fine rains occur than where the rains are composed of larger, 
heavier drops ; less in a country or in a season of strong 
winds than of feeble winds ; less when exposed to the full 
force of the wind by being elevated on a post, than when ex- 
posed to the feebler winds near the ground. . . . 

" The distinction between the effect of the winds in heavy 
rains and fine rains is very clearly brought out by Bornstein's 
classification of the catch on twenty-six days of fine rain and 
forty-three days of heavier rains ; the percentages are shown 
in the following table " : — 





43 Heavy rains. 


26 Fine rains. 


Wind force. 


No. of days. 


Deficit 
per cent. 


No. of days. 


Deficit 
per cent. 



I 

2 

3 
4 


17 

13 

7 

6 


6 

13 
H 
17 


4 
8 
6 
6 

2 


23 

25 
18 

46 

52 



Rain gauges under trees do not record all the rain fallen. 
The percentage of precipitation recorded under trees of 
different kinds has been found as follows : — 



Warm season. 



General average .... 
Average for deciduous trees 
Average for evergreens . . 




70 

65 

74 



2 F 



434 APPENDIX. 

These data are the result of observations at sixteen stations 
for about 150 years. 

The table shows that in the warm season 30 per cent of the 
rainfall in the open fields fails to reach the gauges under the 
trees. Taking all seasons together, 25 per cent is intercepted. 
This deficit does not include the water which drips from the 
leaves, for this is fairly accounted for by the gauges. It is the 
water which moistens the tree and its various parts and that 
which flows down the trunk. The former is evaporated with- 
out reaching the soil ; the latter reaches the soil finally, and 
is measurable. Some experiments have indicated this amount 
to be about 8 per cent of the precipitation. 

The same difficulties experienced with rain gauges are also 
found to attach to thermometers ; the best thermometers 
placed side by side will vary by as much as 1 .6° F. and 
usually 0.7 F., hence small differences of temperature may be 
merely inaccuracies, or due to non-uniformity of conditions, 
and cannot be argued as a result of forest influences. 

P. 69. Details of Meteorological Conditions within and out- 
side of Forests. — The following conclusions have been drawn 
from the German observations and are reproduced from the 
above-cited bulletin : — 

Difference of Meteorological Conditions Within 
and Without the Forest. 

(1) Soil Temperatures, — The general influence of the 
forest on soil temperatures is a cooling one, due to the shade 
and to the longer retention of moisture in the forest floor as 
well as in the forest air, which must be evaporated before the 
ground can be warmed. As a consequence, the extremes of 
high and low temperature within the forest soil occur much 
later than in the open, and both extremes are reduced, but the 
extreme summer temperatures much more than the winter 
temperatures. 

The difference between evergreen and deciduous forests, 
which almost vanishes in the winter time, is in favor of the 



NOTES. 435 

deciduous as a cooling element in summer and autumn, while 
during spring the soil is cooler under evergreens. The effect 
increases naturally with the age and height of the trees. 

(2) Air Temperatures under the Crowns. — The annual 
range of air temperature is smaller in the forest than in the 
open ; the effect upon the minimum temperature (i.e. the 
effect in winter) is less than on the maximum temperature 
(i.e. the effect in summer). The combined effect is a cool- 
ing one. The range of temperature is more affected than 
the average absolute temperature, or, in other words, the 
moderating influence is greater than the cooling effect. 

The monthly minima for middle latitudes are uniformly re- 
duced during the year, and the monthly maxima are much 
more reduced during the summer than during the winter. On 
the average the forest is cooler than the open country in 
summer, but about the same in winter, with a slight warming 
effect in spring. 

The difference between the mean monthly air temperatures 
in the woods and in the open varies with the kind of forest 
much more than is the case for soil temperatures. The 
evergreen forest shows a symmetrical increase and decrease 
throughout the year. The deciduous forest shows a variable 
influence which diminishes from the midwinter to springtime, 
but increases rapidly as the leaves appear and grow, becoming 
a maximum in June and July, and then diminishing rapidly 
until November. The annual average effect is about the 
same both for evergreen and deciduous forests. 

Forests situated at a considerable elevation above the sea 
have sensibly the same influence on the reduction of the mean 
temperature as do forests that are at a low level. 

Young forests affect the air temperature very differently 
from mature forests ; in the former the minimum temperatures 
are always reduced, but the maxima are exaggerated. The 
observations on which this conclusion is based ought, perhaps, 
to be considered as pertaining rather to the case of tempera- 
tures in the tree tops. 



436 APPENDIX. 

(3) Air Temperatures within the Crowns. — The mean 
temperature of the air in the tree tops, after correcting for 
elevation above ground, is rather higher than over open 
fields. The effect of tree tops does not appreciably depend 
upon the height of the station above ground. The effect 
upon the minima is generally greater than on the maxima, 
the total effect being a warming one. A tree-top station is in 
general intermediate, as to temperature, between a station 
near the ground in the forest and one in the open field. 

Evergreen forests show less difference between the temper- 
ature in the crown and below, and altogether more uni- 
formity in temperature changes throughout the year than 
deciduous growth. 

The vertical gradient for temperature within the forest on 
the average of all stations and all kinds of forest trees is 
large, varying from 0.61 ° F. per 100 feet in April to 2.50 F. 
in July. 

A reversal of the vertical gradient, namely, a higher temper- 
ature above than below, occurs in the wood, especially in the 
summer time. It also occurs in the open air regularly at 
night, and may be three or four times as large as that just 
mentioned. In general, the action of the forest tends to pro- 
duce a vertical distribution of temperature like that over snow 
or level fields on clear nights. 

(4) Air Te?nperature above the Crowns. — The tempera- 
ture, at considerable heights above the forest, appears to be 
slightly affected by the forest, and more so with evergreens 
than with deciduous growth. The vertical gradients of 
temperature within 30 feet above the tops of the trees are all 
reversed throughout the leafy season ; the gradients are also 
greater above the tree crown than below, at least during the 
clear sky and calm air. The wind affects the temperature 
under and within the crowns, but makes little difference above 
them. The surface of the forest crown appears meteorologi- 
cally much like the surface of the meadow or cornfield. It is 
as if the soil surface has been raised to the height of the trees. 



NOTES. 437 

(5) Air Temperature in General. — From the preceding 
generalizations it appears that the forest affects the tempera- 
ture just as any collection of inorganic obstacles to sunshine 
and wind ; but as an organic being the forest may be also an 
independent source of heat. Careful observations of the 
temperature within the trunk of the tree and of the leaves of 
the tree show that the tree temperature is affected somewhat 
by the fact that the water rising brings up the temperature of 
the roots, while the food material from the leaves brings their 
temperature down, and the tree temperature, considered as 
the result of the complex adjustment, is not appreciably 
affected by any heat that may be evolved by the chemical 
processes on which its growth depends. It is not yet clear 
as to whether the chemical changes that take place at the sur- 
face of the leaves should give out any heat ; it is more likely 
that heat is absorbed ; namely, rendered latent, especially in 
the formation of the seed ; the process of germination usually 
evolves this latent heat ; the immense quantity of water tran- 
spired and evaporated by the forests tends to keep the leaves 
at the same temperature as that of the surface of water or 
moist soil. 

(6) Htmiidity of Air. — The annual evaporation within the 
forests is about one-half of that in the open field ; not only is 
the evaporation within a forest greatest in May and June, but 
the difference between this and the evaporation in the open 
field is also then a maximum, which is the saving due to the 
presence of the woods. The average annual evaporation 
within the woods is about 44 per cent of that in the field. 
Fully half of the field evaporation is saved by the presence of 
the forest. 

The quantity of moisture thrown into the air by transpira- 
tion from the leaves in the forest is sometimes three times 
that from a horizontal water surface of the same extent, and 
at other times it is less than that of the water. The tran- 
spiration from leaves in full sunshine is decidedly greater 
than from leaves in the diffused daylight or darkness. The 



438 APPENDIX. 

absolute amount of annual transpiration, as observed in 
forests of mature oaks and beeches in Central Europe, may 
amount to 50 per cent of the total annual precipitation and 
more ; with conifers, only one-sixth to one-tenth of this. 

The percentage of rainfall, evaporated at the surface of the 
ground, is about 40 per cent for the whole year in the open 
field and about 12 per cent for the forest, and is greater under 
deciduous than under evergreen forests. 

The evaporation from a saturated bare soil in the forest is 
about the same as that from a water surface in the forest, 
other conditions being the same. 

The presence of forest litter like that lying naturally in un- 
disturbed forests hinders the evaporation from the soil to a 
remarkable extent, since it saves seven-eighths of what would 
otherwise be lost. 

The total quantity of moisture returned into the atmosphere 
from a forest by transpiration and evaporation from the trees 
and the soil is about 75 per cent of the precipitation. For 
other forms of vegetation it is about the same or sometimes 
larger, varying between 70 per cent and 90 per cent ; in this 
respect the forest is surpassed by the cereals and grasses, 
while, on the other hand, the evaporation from a bare soil is 
scarcely 30 per cent of the precipitation. 

The absolute humidity within a forest exceeds that of the 
glades and the plains by a small quantity. The relative 
humidity in the forest is also larger than in the glades or 
plains by 2 per cent to 4 per cent. Forests of evergreens 
have from two to four times the influence in increasing rela- 
tive humidity as do forests of deciduous trees. 

The gauges in European forest stations catch from 75 to 85 
per cent when placed under the trees, the balance represent- 
ing that which passes through the foliage and drips to the 
ground or runs down along the trunks of trees, or else is in- 
tercepted and evaporated. The percentage withheld by the 
trees, and which either evaporates from their surface or 
trickles along the trunk to the ground, is somewhat greater 



NOTES. 439 

in the leafy season, though the difference is not great. De- 
ciduous and evergreen trees show but slight differences in 
this respect. More rain is usually caught by gauges at a 
given height above the forest crown than at the same height 
in open fields, but it still remains doubtful whether the rain- 
fall itself is really larger over the forests, since the recorded 
catch of the rain gauge still requires a correction for the in- 
fluence of the force of the wind at the gauge. 

In such cases, where over a large area deforestation and 
reforestation have seemingly gone hand in hand with de- 
crease and increase of rainfall, the possible secular change in 
rainfall must also be considered. Yet the experience of in- 
creased rainfall over the station at Lintzel, with increase of 
forest area, points strongly toward a possible interdependence 
under given conditions. 

By condensing dew, hoar frost, and ice on their branches, 
trees add thereby a little to the precipitation which reaches 
the ground, and by preventing the rapid melting of snow 
more water remains available under forest cover. 

The question as to the march of destructive hailstorms with 
reference to forest areas, which seems settled for some regions 
in France, remains in doubt for other, especially mountain, 
regions. 

From these statements we would expect as a consequence 
of deforestation an effect on the climate of the deforested area 
in three directions, namely : (a) extremes of temperature of air 
as well as soil are aggravated, (£) the average humidity of the 
air is lessened, and possibly (c) the distribution of precipi- 
tation throughout the year, if not its quantity, is changed. 

Influence of Forests upon the Climate of the 
Surrounding Country. 

(i) An influence of the forest upon the climate of its sur- 
roundings can only take place by means of diffusion of the 
vapor which is transpired and evaporated by the crowns, and 



440 APPENDIX. 

by means of air currents passing through and above the for- 
ests being modified in temperature and moisture conditions ; 
the mechanical effect upon such air currents by which they 
are retarded in their progress may also be effective in chang- 
ing their climatic value. 

(2) Local air currents are set up by the difference in tem- 
perature of the air within and without the forest, analogously 
to those of a lake or pond, cooler currents coming from the 
forest during the day in the lower strata and warmer currents 
during the night in the upper strata. The latter currents, 
being warmer and moister, can be of influence on the tem- 
perature and moisture conditions of a neighboring field by 
moderating temperature extremes and increasing the humidity 
of the air. 

This local circulation is the one most important difference 
between forest and other vegetation. How far away from the 
forest this circulation becomes sensible is not ascertained. In 
winter time, when the temperature differences become small, 
no such circulation is noticeable. 

(3) The general air currents in their lower portions are cut 
off entirely by the forest, which acts as a wind-break. This in- 
fluence can of course be experienced only on the leeward side. 
How far this protection reaches it is difficult to estimate, but 
it certainly reaches farther than that of a mere wind-break, 
since by the friction of the air moving over the crowns a 
retardation must be experienced that would be noticeable for 
a considerable distance beyond the mere wind-break effect. 
Deforestation on a large scale would permit uninterrupted 
sweep of the winds, a change more detrimental where the 
configuration of the ground does not fulfil a similar function 
— in large plains more than in hilly and mountainous regions, 
and at the seashore more than in the interior. 

In an experiment made by F. W. King in Wisconsin the 
evaporation increased with the distance from the woods up to 
300 feet ; the difference in the amount at a station only 20 
feet from the protecting forest being over 66 per cent. Even 



NOTES. 



441 



behind a hedgerow, 6 to 8 feet high, a difference of 30 per cent 
was noted in the same distances. Extensive observations 
made by the Canadian Agricultural Experiment stations show 
very considerable differences in crop production due to the 
effect of wind-breaks. 

The upper air strata can be modified only by the conditions 
existing near and above the crowns. At the same time they 
must carry away the cooler and moister air there and create 
an upward movement of the forest air, and thereby in part 
the conditions of this become also active in modifying air cur- 
rents. The greater humidity immediately above the crowns 
is imparted to the air currents, if warm and dry, and becomes 
visible at night in the form of mists resting above and near 
forest areas. These strata protect the open at least against 
insolation and loss of water by evaporation, and have also a 
greater tendency to condensation as dew or light rain if con- 
ditions for such condensation exist. This influence can be 
felt only to the leeward in summer time, and with dry, warm 
winds, while the cooling winter effect upon comparatively 
warmer moist winds is not noticeable. Theoretical considera- 
tions lead to the conclusion that in mountain regions only the 
forest on the leeward slope can possibly add moisture to a 
wind coming over the mountain, but this does not necessarily 
increase the precipitation on the field beyond. Altogether, 
the theoretical considerations are as yet neither proved nor 
disproved by actual observations, and as to rainfall, the ques- 
tion of influence on the neighborhood is still less settled than 
that of precipitation upon forest areas themselves. Wherever 
moisture-laden winds pass over extensive forest areas the 
cooler and moister condition of the atmosphere may at least 
not reduce the possibility of condensation, which a heated 
plain would do ; but observations so far give no conclusive 
evidence that neighboring fields receive more rain than they 
otherwise would. 

(4) With regard to comparative temperatures in forest 
stations and open stations that are situated not far apart from 



442 APPENDIX. 

each other, it would appear that the forest exerts a cooling 
influence, but that more detailed conclusions are hindered by 
the consideration that the ordinary meteorological station 
itself is somewhat affected by neighboring trees. 

The study of the stations in Asiatic and European Russia 
seems to show that in the western part of the Old World the 
presence of large forests has a very sensible influence on the 
temperature. Similar studies for stations in the United States 
seem to show that our thin forests have a slight effect in 
December, but a more decided one in June. It appears also 
that our wooded regions are warmer than the open plains, but 
there is no positive evidence that this difference of tempera- 
ture is dependent upon the quantity or distribution of forests 
or that changes in temperature have occurred from this cause. 

(5) When a forest encloses a small area of land, forming a 
glade, its enclosed position brings about special phenomena of 
reflection of heat, local winds, and a large amount of shade. 
For such situations it is found that the mean range of tem- 
perature is larger in the glade than in the open ; the glade 
climate is more rigorous than the climate of open plains ; the 
glade is cooler and its diurnal range larger during the spring, 
summer, and autumn. 

Favorable influences upon moisture conditions of the air 
are most noticeable in localities where much water is stored 
underground, with overlying strata which are apt to dry when 
our summer drought prevails. Here the forest growth is 
able to draw water from greater depths, and by transpiration 
return it to the atmosphere, thereby reducing the dryness 
and possibly inducing precipitation. In moist climates this 
action would be less effective or of no use. Hence in regions 
with oceanic climate, with moist sea winds, like England and 
the west coasts of Europe or of the northern United States, 
deforestation from a climatic point of view may make no 
appreciable difference, such as it would make in continental 
climates like the interior of our country, the Rocky Mountains, 
and Southern California. 



NOTES. 443 

Whether large or small areas of forest and open fields alter- 
nating, or what percentage of forest is most favorable, can- 
not as yet be discussed, since we are not clearly informed 
even as to the manner and the amount of influence which 
forest cover exercises. In general we may expect that an 
alternation of large forested and unforested areas in regions 
which on account of their geographic situation have a dry and 
rigorous climate is more beneficial than large uninterrupted 
forest areas, which would fail to set up that local circulation 
which is brought about by differences in temperature and per- 
mits an exchange of the forest climate to the neighboring 
field. 

More recent experiments tend to modify somewhat the con- 
clusions arrived at heretofore, and indicate, as has been sug- 
gested, that the differences in temperature and humidity of 
woods and of open land that have been recorded are largely 
to be attributed to variability of instruments and of readings, 
and to nonconformity of conditions. 

Even the well-planned Austrian experiments have produced 
neither striking nor consistent results. In 1893 Dr. Lorentz 
Liburnau concluded that forests did not cool the air of the 
surrounding country, and that temperature extremes were 
even heightened in the immediate vicinity of the woods. 
Concerning humidity, it was found that while with one set of 
stations this appeared increased by an uncertain trifle through 
the proximity of the forest, in another set no influence was 
observed, and in one case the air current from the woods was 
positively drier at noontime than that of the open country, 
and even though Lorentz Liburnau is still hopeful in the mat- 
ter, he felt compelled to admit that a " distance effect " of 
forest influence was so far not demonstrated. 

Schubert, in 1895 and again in 1897, published results of 
extensive temperature measurements which point to an entire 
absence of influence in this respect, the air of the forest being 
in no case sufficiently cooler to warrant a decision. His ex- 
periments gave a difference of only 5 F. in favor of the pine 



444 APPENDIX. 

woods. This author came to practically the same con- 
clusion regarding the humidity of the forest and the open 
country. 

Influence of Forests upon Water and Soil 
Conditions. 

(i) In consequence of deforestation, evaporation from the 
soil is augmented and accelerated, resulting in unfavorable 
conditions of soil humidity and affecting unfavorably the size 
and continuity of springs. The influence of forest cover upon 
the flow of springs is due to this reduced evaporation as well 
as to the fact that by the protecting forest cover the soil is 
kept granular and allows more water to penetrate and perco- 
late than would otherwise. In this connection, however, it is 
the condition of the forest floor that is of greatest importance. 
Where the litter and humus mould is burned up, as in many if 
not most of our mountain forests, this favorable influence is 
largely destroyed, although the trees are still standing. 

(2) Snow is held longer in the forest and its melting is re- 
tarded, giving longer time for filtration into the ground, which 
also being frozen to less depth is more apt to be open for sub- 
terranean drainage. Altogether forest conditions favor in 
general larger subterranean and less surface drainage, yet the 
moss or litter of the forest floor retains a large part of the pre- 
cipitation and prevents its filtration to the soil, and thus may 
diminish the supply to springs. This is especially possible 
with small precipitations. Of copious rains and large amounts 
of snow water, quantities, greater or less, penetrate the soil, 
and according to its nature into lower strata and to springs. 
This drainage is facilitated not only by the numerous chan- 
nels furnished by dead and living roots, but also by the influ- 
ence of the forest cover in preserving the loose and porous 
structure of the soil. 

Although the quantity of water offered for drainage on 
naked soil is larger, and although a large quantity is utilized 



NOTES. 445 

by the trees in the process of growth, yet the influence of the 
soil cover in retarding evaporation is liable to offset this loss, 
as the soil cover is not itself dried out. 

The forest, then, even if under unfavorable topographical 
and soil conditions (steep slopes and impermeable soils) it 
may not permit larger quantities of water to drain off under- 
ground and in springs, can yet influence their constancy and 
equable flow by preventing loss from evaporation. 

(3) The surface drainage is retarded by the uneven forest 
floor more than by any other kind of soil cover. Small pre- 
cipitations are apt to be prevented from running off superficially 
through absorption by the forest floor. In case of heavy rain- 
falls this mechanical retardation in connection with greater 
subterranean drainage may reduce the danger from freshets by 
preventing the rapid collection into runs. Yet in regions with 
steep declivities and impermeable soil such rains may be shed 
superficially and produce freshets in spite of the forest floor, 
and an effect upon water conditions can exist only from the 
following consideration. 

(4) The well-kept forest floor, better than even the close 
sod of a meadow, prevents erosion and abrasion of the 
soil and the washing of soil and detritus into brooks and 
rivers. 

This erosion is especially detrimental to agricultural inter- 
ests as well as waterflow in regions with thin surface and im- 
penetrable subsoils, and where rains are apt to be explosive 
in their occurrence, as in our western and southern country. 
The best soil of the farms is often washed into the rivers, and 
the water stages of the latter, by the accumulations of this soil, 
are influenced unfavorably. 

(5) Water stages in rivers and streams which move outside 
the mountain valleys are dependent upon such a complication 
of climatic, topographic, geological, and geographical condi- 
tions at the head waters of their affluents that they withdraw 
themselves from a direct correlation to surface conditions 
alone. Yet it stands to reason that the conditions at the head 



446 APPENDIX. 

waters of each affluent must ultimately be reflected in the flow 
of the main river. The temporary retention of large amounts 
of water and eventual change into subterranean drainage 
which the well-kept forest floor produces, the consequent 
lengthening in the time of flow, and especially the prevention 
of accumulation and carrying of soil and detritus which are 
deposited in the river and change its bed, would at least tend 
to alleviate the dangers from abnormal floods and reduce the 
number and height of regular floods. 

Concerning the moisture of the soil the results of the most 
recent experiments differ. Ramann, in 1895, published a se- 
ries of results which indicated that the soil of the forest may 
be even drier than that of the neighboring open land. This 
view he finds strengthened by experiments made in small 
clearings within the forest, where he finds the soil of the 
sunny side of the clearing and that of the old forest itself 
decidedly drier than the soil of the shaded part of the clear- 
ing, though he also finds the soil under a young bush cover 
more moist than that under old timber. 

Whether a forest cover aids in the accumulation of ground 
water by improving the permeability of the soil was made the 
object of an experiment by Wollny, in a series of inconclusive 
small pot experiments which led this investigator to the ques- 
tionable result that bare land was more conducive to percola- 
tion than ground covered either by grass or trees. This 
would surely be true only if the bare ground, as in the experi- 
ments, is kept in an artificial, not natural, condition. 

Attempts to deduce the influence of forest on waterflow 
from wholesale measurements and observations have been 
made in this country by Vermeule, of New Jersey (see 
Proceedings American Forestry Association, Vol. XI, pp. 
130-137, and report of New Jersey Geological Survey, 1894), 
and Rafter, of New York (Proceedings of American Forestry 
Association, Vol. XII, pp. 139-165, and report of State engi- 
neer and surveyor of New York, 1896), the former claiming that 
no appreciable influence existed, the latter calculating the influ- 



NOTES. 447 

ence of the forest to be equal in value to five or six inches 
of rainfall, this amount of moisture being saved by its 
presence. 

Among recent papers which possess the highest value in 
describing the movements of water in the ground, and thus 
throw light on a most important phase of the whole subject, 
Bulletin 32 of the Experiment Station, Fort Collins, Colo., by 
Professor L. G. Carpenter, is noteworthy. Professor Carpen- 
ter shows that it is possible by mechanical means (ditches in 
this case) to prevent the rapid run-off in high-water time and 
thus produce a steadier flow of a stream and also raise the 
level of the ground water, as well as saturate large areas of 
otherwise arid land. In other words, he shows that in Colo- 
rado the work of irrigation has resulted in a rise in the level 
of the ground water, changing deep wells into shallow ones ; 
that it has taken water out of the Platte and Cache la Poudre 
rivers, and saturated thousands of acres of formerly arid land, 
the seepage of which has changed dry branches into steady 
rivulets, and supplies already a steady inflow into the rivers, 
from which the water is taken above the fields. This inflow 
tends to make these rivers steady and uniform sources of 
water supply, and makes irrigation possible at points below 
where in former times such irrigation would have been out of 
the question. 

P. 78. Sanitary Influence. — The theories of the develop- 
ment of the various pathogenic bacilli in the soil which were 
based on Pettenkoffer's authority have lately been discarded, 
and the origin of malaria has also experienced a different ex- 
planation by some authorities. The general statement that 
the forest soils, being removed from the contact with man's 
occupations, is usually less favorable to the propagation of 
pathogenic microbes remains true, and at least this indirect 
relation of soil conditions to malaria exists, namely, that the 
mosquito, which is considered the direct breeder of the disease, 
is dependent for its development on swampy conditions of 
soil, stagnant water, pools, etc. 



448 APPENDIX. 



NOTES TO CHAPTER IV. 

P. 81. The etymology of the word "forests" is doubtful. 
It is only certain that it is not, as has sometimes been claimed, 
of Latin, but of Germanic origin, as is evidenced from a 
manuscript of Zwentibold : " ut quandum silvam in bannum 
mitteremus et ex ea, sicut Franci dicunt, forestem face- 
remus." 

The unquestionable connection between vor, first, furst 
and forst, which was originally written voorst (also vorst, 
vor est, forest, for eht, foreis), suggests the meaning attached to 
the word originally, namely, a piece of property set aside for 
the use of the king or " Furst." 

Other etymologists have tried to relate the term foresta to 
fera (wild animals), ferarum statio, and to foris (outside), 
referring either to game preserves or to location outside the 
range of the settled country. Lately again the word has been 
referred to the Latin forus, a subdivided area. It is claimed 
that the original meaning, namely, " restriction of the chase?" 
was of Roman origin. 

According to others the old German word signified " wood- 
land," and only in the sixth and seventh century was specially 
applied to the woodland owned by the kings or masters, and 
gradually in the eighth and ninth centuries assumed the 
restricted sense of reserved woodlands, and finally of the 
mere legal condition and rights. 

P. 83. Foresters (forestarii) and forest guards {custodes 
nemoris) are mentioned first under the Carolingians as hav- 
ing charge of the forest property of the kings or lords under 
the supervision of the majordomo ; they had at first only 
police functions, and were often taken from the serfs. It 
was much later that their functions assumed a technical 
character. 

P. 84. It is interesting to note the historical develop- 
ment of the forestry idea in England and in the United 



NOTES. 



449 



States by a comparison of the lexicographers from period 
to period- 
Richardson's New Dictionary of 1846 defines a forest still 
as " a great and privileged wood or woody wilderness ; 
some (Frenchmen) have generally interpreted it as a place 
whereto access and entry is forbidden by the owner unto 
others, and hence it seems that privileged fishing or large 
waters (wherein none but the lords thereof could fish) were 
also termed forests." 

Webster's Dictionary in 1863 did not contain the word 
"forestry" at all; "forester" was defined as (1) an officer 
appointed to watch a forest or chase, and to preserve game 
and institute suit of trespass ; (2) an inhabitant of the forest ; 
(3) a forest tree. 

Forest was defined as (1) "an extensive wood or a large 
tract of land covered with trees. In America usually applied 
to a wood of native growth or a tract of woodland which has 
never been cultivated. It differs from ' woods ' chiefly in ex- 
tent." The second meaning refers to the legal term, as 
explained in the text. 

The edition of 1880 gives essentially the same definitions 
for forest and forester, but contains also " Forestry : The art 
of forming or managing forests. (Rare.) " 

In 1 89 1 the rarity of the word "forestry" seems to have 
been overcome, the definition of forest remains the same ; 
a forester has become " one who has charge of the grow- 
ing timber on an estate," etc., and forestry is " the art of 
forming or cultivating forests ; the management of growing 
timber." 

Even the Standard Dictionary of 1895 finds it still necessary 
to explain that its definition, " forestry, the art of developing 
and managing forests," is based upon Professor Ely's use of 
the word when referring to New York state having acquired 
forests in the Adirondacks and having entered upon forestry, 
and that its definition of a forester as " one who has charge 
of a forest or of its timber, one who is versed in forestry," is 

2G 



450 APPENDIX. 

based upon the use of the word in the Report of the U.S. 
Forestry Division for 1886. Nor is the definition of" forest 11 
any more certain of its propriety, lacking in definiteness : " a 
large tract of land covered with a natural growth of trees and 
underbrush ; a large wood, woodland, often with intervening 
spaces of open grounds. 11 



NOTES TO CHAPTER V. 

P. 113. Labor in Forestry. — The labor statistics of Ger- 
many for 1895 show one laborer employed to 310 acres in for- 
estry and one to 10.6 acres in agriculture — a still greater 
labor-intensity in agriculture than indicated by the figures in 
the text, which were drawn from less complete statistics. 
Altogether 352,566 people were deriving their living directly 
or indirectly from forestry, besides 900,000 in sawmills and 
woodworking industries, while 17.8 millions were engaged 
in agricultural pursuits. 

P. 1 16. Forest Labor in the United States. — In the United 
States, according to the census of 1900, there were 382,840 
wage-earners besides 14,333 clerks or other officials earning 
$153,000,000, and 43,322 proprietors engaged in forest ex- 
ploitation and sawmills and planing-mills, the wage-earners 
varying through the year from 350 to 650 thousand. In logging 
operations alone there were employed besides 2400 salaried 
officials and clerks on the average 121 thousand wage-earners, 
varying from month to month between 90 and 156 thousand, 
the largest number being employed in January and February, 
the smallest in July ; the wages paid to these amounted to 
$46,000,000. Translating the 35 billion feet, board measure, 
produced roughly into acreage, say 6 million acres represent- 
ing the harvest area, there was one man employed for every 
50 acres cut over, giving rise to a labor earning of over $7 per 
acre ; or, if we accept 500 million acres as the productive 



NOTES. 451 

forest area, each 4000 acres of these furnish employment for 
one man in the harvest alone, for twice the number in the 
mills, and three times the number in woodworking establish- 
ments. 

Pp. 1 16 and 131. The Farmer's Wood-lot. — The farmer's 
wood-lot has its unquestionable value to the farmer and to the 
farm, not only in furnishing fuel and repair material, and in 
giving occupation during the leisure of winter, but also in 
producing values from those portions of the farm which are 
unfit for agriculture, if he owns such, and in the indirect 
benefits from preventing soil washes, and from its wind-break 
effects, if properly placed. 

Silviculturally the farmer's wood-lot is at a disadvantage, on 
account of its isolation and small size. It is, therefore, con- 
stantly wind-swept, and unless particular care is taken to 
maintain a wind-mantle on the outskirts, the soil is apt to 
deteriorate, reproduction is made difficult, and danger from 
windfall is intensified. 

The time-element involved rules out the wood-lot from 
timber production ; the coppice and standard coppice manage- 
ment for the production of fuel wood and small dimensions 
alone fits the small farmer's condition, and if in reach of a 
market for these, may prove very profitable. Timber produc- 
tion is practically not a business for small areas, although 
theoretically and under peculiar conditions in practice is not 
impossible. 

P. 122. * Provided the Litter is Left.' — The fallen leaves, 
twigs, bark, and other litter, decaying, form a mulch, which, 
covering the soil, preserves the soil water from being evapo- 
rated and keeps the soil in granular, permeable condition, 
most favorable to water conduction. Besides, the largest 
amount of the mineral constituents which the trees have 
pumped up from the soil is stored in these youngest parts, 
which are returned to the soil as the litter decays and forms 
the humus. In the average there are annually returned by the 
fall of leaves and litter in a dense forest from 1800 to 4500 



452 



APPENDIX. 



pounds per acre, containing, according to kind and condition 
of growth and soil, from 24 to 220 pounds of minerals, potash, 
phosphoric acid, magnesia, lime, etc., and 12 to 60 pounds of 
nitrogen, the whole equivalent to not less than 20 to 30 
cents or more of fertilizer. 

This accounts for the well-known fertility of fresh forest 
soils, which have accumulated these minerals in the surface 
layers. 

A large literature on the subject of forest litter has been 
occasioned in Germany, owing to the conflicting interests of 
foresters and small farmers who desire to, and by necessity 
do, assist their scant crops by this forest manure, to the detri- 
ment of the forest crop. 

P. 134. Results of Forest Management in Saxony, and 
other state forest administrations. — The most intensive 
management is possible in this densely populated and highly 
industrial portion of Germany. The periodic changes 
from 1 81 7, when a systematic forest management had only 
been begun, through the century are exhibited in the fol- 
lowing tabulation, giving results per acre on about 430,000 
acres. 





1817-36. 


1854-63. 


1884-93. 


Felling budget, cubic feet 


60 


70 


90 


Timber wood, per cent . 


17 


48 


79 


Gross revenue, dollars . 


i-75 


3-54 


6.67 


Expenditures, dollars . 


.80 


1. 15 


2.30 


Net revenue, dollars 


•95 


2-39 


4-37 


Revenue per $1 expended, 








dollars .... 


2.20 


3.10 


2.90 



NOTES. 



453 



The net revenues in all the other German state forest ad- 
ministrations have risen in similar manner, namely, in dollars 
per each acre under management : — 



Year. 


Prussia. 


Bavaria. 


Saxony. 


Wurtem- 
berg. 


Baden. 


1830 


.44 


.46 


1. 10 


.82 


1. 6l 


1850 


.46 


.65 


I.63 


I. II 


2.96 


1870 


.87 


I.99 


2-45 


2.62 


4.18 


1875 


1.20 


2. II 


5.48 


4.22 


2-39 


1880 


.92 


I.29 


4.08 


2.66 


3-25 


1890 


I.30 


I.90 


5^7 


3-33 


370 


1895 


I.03 


1.74 


4-33 


3.81 


4.14 


1897 


1. 1 9 




5.10 


4.29 





These figures show the influence of boom prices following 
the Franco-German war, but the agricultural depression of the 
last decade in Germany, although noticeable in its effects on 
wood prices, has hardly interrupted the constant increase in 
the net yields of forestry. 

The gross yields of these forest properties contribute to the 
total gross budgets of the state administrations in Prussia, 
4-5 per cent ; Bavaria, 9-10 per cent ; Saxony, 13-14 per cent ; 
Wurtemberg, 16 per cent; Baden, 8 per cent; Austria, 0.7 
per cent ; France, 0.7 per cent ; Russia, 1.6 per cent. 

A further proof of the efficiency of forest management is 
to be found not only in the greater total wood production per 
acre, which has been secured in all states by careful manage- 
ment similarly to that recorded for Saxony on p. 452, but 
also in the larger proportion of timber wood (over 3 inches 
diameter) which is coming to harvest, in part at least as a 
result of improved silviculture. 



454 APPENDIX. 

This timber wood per cent increased as follows : — 



Year. 


Prussia. 


Bavaria. 


Saxony. 


Wiirtem- 
berg. 


Baden. 


185O .... 


26 


17 


35 


26 


24 


i860 .... 


29 


19 


45 


32 


28 


1870 .... 


30 


32 


61 


40 


34 


1880 .... 


29 


32 


75 


39 


35 


189O .... 


47 


48 


80 


54 


42 


1895 .... 


5o 


5° 


79 


53 


44 



The total net income from all the German state forests is 
$1.80 per acre, or $63,000,000. Of this gross yield, 65 per 
cent is for timber wood, from 3-10 per cent for by-products, 
the balance for inferior wood materials. 

How well deserved the reputation of the German forest 
administrations and financially how wise their maintenance 
has been may be judged by a comparison with other forest 
administrations. While in 1890 the German forest adminis- 
trations showed a net revenue varying from $1.30 to $4.46 
per acre, and in the average $1.80, the state forests of the 
following countries yielded per acre in the period stated : — 



France 1897 . . 

Austria 1 887-1 893 

Hungary . . . . . 1 885-1 894 

Russia 1896 . . 

Sweden 1894 . . 

Italy 1893 . . 

Spain 1892 . . 



$1.05 
.168 

•32 

.02 
.48 

•33 
.172 



In France, which comes nearest to the German results, a 
decline of gross yields has been noticeable in the last 40 years. 
The decade of i860- 1869 showed a total yield of round 



NOTES. 



455 



$8,000,000 average per year, while the following decades 
showed the averages of 7, 5.5, 5.4, 5.7, respectively ; the cause 
of it being probably, in the main, the change from timber 
forest to coppice. 

In Russia a constant increase in receipts during the last 15 
to 20 years is the result of an improved forest administration; 
every increase in expenditures bringing more than a com- 
mensurate result. 

This is brought out significantly by a comparison of yearly 
net yields and expenditures which were from 1885 to 1896: — 





Expenditures. 


Net revenue. 




Million Rubel. 


Million Rubel. 


1885 


549 


8. 


1886 












5.48 


8.2 


1887 












5.60 


8.5 


1888 












5-57 


10.4 


1889 












5.80 


12.8 


1890 












6.09 


12. 1 


1891 












6.24 


"•3 


1892 












6.31 


131 


1893 












6.50 


15.9 


1894 












6.89 


19.6 


1895 












7-35 


22.1 


1896 












7.76 


26.5 



The German administrations also show this relation of 
expenditure ' to net revenues. Not only has every increase 
in expenditure in each state produced greater efficiency (see 
p. 327), but the net results from state to state are almost in 
direct relation to the expenditure, as will appear when com- 
paring the table of net yields with the following table of 
expenditures. The total expenditures are for the period from 
1 880 to 1896, the expenditures for administration alone for 



456 



APPENDIX. 



the period from 1890 to 1896, except for Prussia, for which 
the periods end in 1892 : — 



Total expenditures per 

acre, dollars . . . 
Per cent of gross 

revenue 

Administration expense 

per acre, dollars . . 
Per cent of gross 

revenue 



Prussia. 



1.10-1.30 

5o-57 

■55 

215 



Bavaria. 



1.50-2.40 
47-68 

•87-93 
20.5-26.8 



Saxony. 



2.10-2.70 

32-39 

•95 



Wiirtem- 
berg. 



2.20-2.50 

39-51 
.70 
n. 5 



Baden. 



2.10-2.80 

48-65 

.56 



In the expenditures there are absorbed by woodchoppers 
15-18 per cent of the income from wood sales. For planting 
alone the following expenditures per acre of forest were in- 
curred in 1894-1895: Prussia, 22 cents; Bavaria, 6.5 cents; 
Saxony, 14 cents; Wurtemberg, 17. 1 cents; Baden, 18.8 
cents. This means not per acre planted, but per acre under 
management. 

P. 138. Rise in Wood Prices. — A very careful and exhaus- 
tive investigation into the movement of prices for wood and 
for agricultural products in Prussia, comprising the fifty years 
from 1830 to 1880 (by Dr. Fr. Jentsch in Zeitschrift fur 
Forst- und Jagdwesen, 1887, pp. 91-108), during which time 
the price for wood (average) rose 74 per cent, namely, from 
2 \ cents to 4£ cents per cubic foot, brings out the following 
facts : — 

1. The tendency of prices for agricultural products as well 
as for wood has been toward a rise. 

2. Prices for wood have increased more rapidly than those 
of the staples wheat and rye (imports!), less rapidly than of 
potatoes, beef, and butter. 

3. Prices for wood have risen more steadily than those for 
agricultural products. 



NOTES. 



457 



4. The relation between prices for wood and for wheat and 
rye shows a tendency in favor of greater rise in profits from 
forestry than from grain production. 

5. Prices promise to rise further for an indeterminable 
time. 

This last prediction seems so far to have proved correct, as 
the following records from Upper Bavaria show. As an 
average result of yearly sales, round timber, f. o. b. boat, 
brought in — 



1886 
1890 
1894 



Year. 



Cents 

per 
cu. ft. 



2.2 
2.33 

2-93 



Year. 



1896 . 

1897 . 



Cents 

per 

cu. ft. 



2.83 
2.98 



The prices for boards (1 inch, 16-foot lengths) was per 
Mft., B.M.: — 



Widths .... 


6 in. 


8 in. 


10 in. 


12 in. 


In 1886 . . . 
In 1897 . . . 


$12.50 
I5.OO 


$13.60 
17.25 


$1575 
I8.O0 


$1375 
20.00 



To gain an idea of the appreciation of the wood product, 
without reference to kind, size, and quality, the following 
series of figures will serve : — 

Average Price per 100 Cubic Feet of Wood realized 
by the Prussian Government for its Entire Crop 
(about 300,000,000 Cubic Feet). 

1850 * $3.27 

1855 3.66 

i860 3-69 



458 APPENDIX. 

Average Price per ioo Cubic Feet of Wood Realized 
by the Prussian Government for its Entire Crop 
(about 300,000,000 Cubic Feet) — Continued. 

1865 $471 

1870 ......... 4-35 

1875 . 5.21 

1880 . . . . . . . . 4-47 

1885 4-30 

1890 4.40 

The highest price for any district was obtained in 1888, 
being $8.49, while the lowest was $2.82. The lower prices 
in later years are explained by the increased importations of 
wood, especially from Hungary, Russia, and Sweden. 

The influence which development of means of transporta- 
tion exercises on wood prices is interestingly exhibited in a 
comparison of the price prevailing in the district with lowest 
and the district with highest price, in Prussia. This relation 
changed during the last thirty years as follows, taking 100 for 
the lowest price: i860, 100:600; 1870, 100:380; 1880, 
100 : 300 ; 1890, 100 : 220. In other words, the range of price 
decreased in the thirty years of railroad building to one-fourth 
of the original one. 

In 1892 the difference in prices was 100: 221, when timber 
wood stood 100:267, firewood 100:177, while rye, the 
most general agricultural crop, showed the relation of 100 : 
116 in the lowest and highest market (a range of only 
16 per cent) ; the bulkiness of the wood material circum- 
scribing its transportableness probably accounts for this great 
difference. 

To compare prices of wood in America no better means are 
at hand than the record of export prices on square timber 
from Canada, which brings the variable item of cost of produc- 
tion to a minimum, as given in a table in " Forest Wealth of 
Canada." 



NOTES. 



459 



Cents per Cubic Foot. 



Year. 

• 


White pine. 


Oak. 


Elm. 


1850 

i860 

1870 

1880 

1894 


4-51 

8§-I8 

14-36 

18-35 

16-42 


I3-H 
14-17 
I9-23 

43-52 
42-49 

45-51 


7-IO 
72-14 

9-i 5 2 
23-3° 
25-30 

25-32 


Per cent per annum 
approximately 


12-36 

7-18 


32-47 

5- 7 


18-22 
6-5 



Showing not only a constant increase of not less than 5 per 
cent per annum, but also a variation in range, which indicates 
reduction in the supply of better quality. 

The price of logs exported from Canada during the 25 
years from 1878 to 1893 appreciated, according to the same 
authority for all descriptions, 3| per cent, and for pine alone 
from $5.40 to $8.33 per M feet, or 5.4 per cent. To explain 
the difference of these prices from the prices for square timber, 
it should be known that the square timber goes mostly from 
Quebec to Great Britain, the logs mostly from Ontario to the 
United States, a difference in market and location which 
depresses the log prices disproportionately. A study of the 
prices paid for timber limits in Canada, which are more acces- 
sible than such data with us, will also show the tendency and 
the rate of rising prices due to decrease of accessible supplies. 

The reduction in supplies is also well indicated by the 
change in the size of merchantable logs, which, in the seven 
years from 1887 to 1893, for which data are published in the 
above-cited document, changed in the Province of Ontario for 
pine from 122.5 f eet B - M - P er average log to 98.5, and for 
other kinds from 79 to 57 feet B.M. 



460 APPENDIX. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER VI. 

P. 144. Acclimatization. — Acclimatization, i.e. use of ex- 
otic species for forest growing, has been sparingly practised 
except in planting where nature had not provided any native 
forest flora, the reason being that native woods usually satisfy 
the requirements, and that the long period of development 
before the real character of the wood and the behavior of the 
plant under new conditions can with certainty be determined 
deters the attempts. There would, however, appear to have 
been more hesitation than necessary on this last account. 
Trees which have lived in a climate for a decade during their 
infantile and youthful, tenderest stage, and behaved as in their 
native habitat, are not likely to change their character later. 
The Germans have for the last thirty years systematically 
tested and introduced foreign, especially American, species, 
with considerable satisfaction. Our white pine has been in 
existence in German forest plantations for over one hundred 
years and has been found most satisfactory. In Hungary 
over 170,000 acres of our black locust furnish to the wine- 
growers most satisfactory vineyard stakes. 

While it may still be considered safest to rely upon the 
native flora, yet if exotics, climatically adapted, promise more 
rapid growth, larger production, silvicultural qualities or quality 
of wood superior to the native, as for instance the Norway 
spruce, it is proper policy to supplant the inferior native, pro- 
vided that no more is expected of it than it does and can do 
in its native home. 

P. 157. Weight Production per Acre. — It is to be under- 
stood that this equal weight production of various species 
from year to year presupposes the species to be, at least in 
general, adapted to the locality or site and climate; moreover, 
this statement refers only to the actual experience with Ger- 
man species in German climate and soils. This experience 
merely proves the self-evident fact that the same amount of 
water, sunlight, and temperature accessible in the same man- 



NOTES. 



461 



ner produces the same amount of wood material in weight, no 
matter what the species. The volumes would then vary in- 
versely as the specific gravity or weight of the woods, or 

v l : v 2 = - : -, which is also borne out by the results of the 

German measurements. 

P. 159. Yield Tables. — A picture of the progress of a wood- 
crop is gained from the study of the so-called yield tables, 
which give the contents of the dominant growth of fully 
stocked stands in 10-year periods. For each species and dif- 
ference in soil and climate this must necessarily vary, hence 
normal yield tables are classified into five site classes. In re- 
ality there is rarely such a full stand to be found as the yield 
tables give ; they represent the attainable maxima, serving as 
a standard of comparison. 

The following tables refer to first-class sites, and show the 
difference in production between shade-enduring fir and spruce 
and the light-needing pine. An approximation to a statement 
of saw material in board measure can, for the older age classes, 
be obtained by multiplying cubic contents by 2 to 3. Only 
the timber wood (over 3-inch) is stated, and the amount of 
material to be derived in thinnings, which represents from 20 
to 40 per cent of the final harvest, is omitted. 

Yield Table of Fir, Site Class I. 



Age. 


Number 
of trees. 


Average 
height, ft. 


Volume, 
cu. ft. 


Vol 


time increment. 


Average. 


Current. 


Per cent. 


20 


5300 


17 


990 


5° 


I97 


26.I 


30 


22IO 


31 


3^550 


Il8 


3*7 


8.4 


40 


1220 


43 


6,530 


163 


224 


3-2 


50 


750 


50 


8,615 


172 


172 


I.9 


60 


540 


65 


IO,28o 


171 


144 


1.4 


70 


410 


73 


11,675 


167 


125 


1.0 


80 


325 


81 


12,890 


l6l 


no 


.8 


90 


270 


88 


i3<95° 


155 


96 


•7 


100 


230 


95 


14.890 


149 


86 


.6 



462 



APPENDIX. 



Yield Table of Spruce, Site Class I. 





Number 


Average 




Volume increment. 


Age. 


of trees. 


height, ft. 


cu. ft. 


Average. 


Current. 


Per cent. 


20 


2560 


15 


987 


49 


98 


II.O 


30 


1680 


34 


2,310 


78 


155 


7-1 


40 


IO5O 


So 


4,200 


105 


211 


5-3 


50 


720 


60 


7,640 


119 


155 


2.7 


60 


510 


73 


7^60 


123 


127 


i-5 


70 


38o 


82 


8,560 


123 


113 


1.2 


80 


317 


92 


9,687 


121 


113 


•9 


90 


265 


99 


IO,744 


120 


99 


.8 


100 


240 


105 


11,730 


117 


98 


.7 



Yield Table of Scotch Pine, Site Class I. 





Number 
of trees. 


Average 
height, ft. 


Volume, 
cu. ft. 


Volume increment. 


Age. 


Average. 


Current. 


Per cent. 


20 


1700 


23 


775 


39 


98 


I3.O 


30 


1 1 70 


36 


2,185 


73 


138 


6.0 


40 


726 


50 


3,820 


95 


113 


3-o 


50 


510 


63 


5,000 


100 


94 


1.9 


60 


380 


72 


5,935 


99 


80 


i-3 


70 


300 


80 


6,700 


96 


66 


1.0 


80 


245 


86 


7,330 


9 1 


58 


.8 


90 


200 


92 


7,840 


87 


50 


.6 


100 


170 


93 


8,275 


83 


45 


•5 



The average maximum total wood production per acre per 
year in a 100-year rotation under German conditions, for Ger- 
man species, German forest management, and for different site 



NOTES. 



463 




10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120YEARS 



Diagram showing comparative progress of yields of spruce, fir, pine, 
and beech, on best and poorest site classes. 

classes may be stated as follows, leaving out the yield in the 
thinnings, which may amount to as much as 40 per cent of 
the final harvest : — 



Site Class 



I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


cu. ft. 


cu. ft. 


cu. ft. 


cu. ft. 


93 


70 


56 


45 


154 


127 


99 


78 


158 


128 


102 


77 


106 


85 


70 


5° 



V. 



Scotch Pine. 
Norway Spruce . 
Silver Fir . . 
Beech . . . 



cu. ft. 

35 
56 



35 



By multiplying this average increment by 100, the years 
of rotation ^or any number of years near that rotation), the 
total possible harvest per acre is obtained. It appears that 



464 APPENDIX. 

fir and spruce are the best producers, beech next, and pine, 
the most light-needing species, but also the most frugal as to 
soils, produces the least. Our White Pine compares probably 
more nearly to the spruce. The usual actual production falls, 
to be sure, considerably below these figures. The entire pro- 
duction of wood per acre of all the German forests is esti- 
mated as 50 cubic feet 1 per acre per annum, or a total harvest 
of 1750 million cubic feet, half of which is timber wood and 
probably 4 billion feet B.M. saw material. For France the 
entire product is estimated at 356,000 million feet, or less than 
40 cubic feet per acre. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER VII. 

P. 177. Sprouting Capacity of Conifers. — The only conifer 
which sprouts vigorously and produces shoots growing into 
trees seems to be the Redwood {Sequoia sempervirens) of our 
Pacific coast. Indeed, the peculiar appearance in the location 
of some of the old giants in a circle suggests that these even 
may have originated as sprouts from stumps of still older 
trees. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER VIII. 

P. 213. Soil-rent Theory. Practicability and Profitable- 
ness of Silviculture. — The economic basis for forest manage- 
ment is not the same everywhere, hence the methods of 
calculating the productive capacity must vary. The soil-rent 
idea can apply only in highly developed, densely populated 
countries, where the closest use of soils is imperative. 

Agriculture is not, as a rule, attempted on soils which do 
not promise a satisfactory return or soil rent, while the forest, 
finally, is relegated to the agriculturally useless soils which 
would bring no rent by other use. On account of the diffi- 
culty of transportation of forest products, location is of more 
moment than the natural fertility of the soil. While this 
limitation may be overcome by the building of roads and rail- 



NOTES. 465 

roads, this is often not possible or financially practicable. 
Hence, areas distant from market may contain large supplies of 
timber of no value on account of their inaccessibility, and no 
fine finance calculation is practicable. Under such conditions, 
when not even crude exploitation pays, forest management 
upon financial basis is surely excluded. Such properties in- 
capable of earning a rent must by necessity be looked upon 
differently from those near markets. While on the latter it 
may be possible to institute a sustained yield management, 
the former may only be carefully exploited without too much 
waste and some attention to aftergrowth. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER IX. 

P. 251. Taxation based on Productivity. — In Germany 
no attempt is made to induce private owners to conservative 
forest management by reduction of taxes. Forest property is 
taxed like all other property upon its properly ascertained 
value, which, however, varies in different states. There is a 
soil tax (grwidsteuer) , an income tax, and a property tax. 

The soil tax is determined upon the premise of a sustained 
yield management and the basis of productive capacity under 
such management — " not to be gauged according to accidental 
expenditures or improvements or neglects, but according to a 
natural management under usual and generally practised dili- 
gence. 1 ' The yield is determined upon the basis of the usually 
applied rotation with the species and kind of management. 
But it is the yield which can be secured under these circum- 
stances, not the yield which is actually secured, upon which the 
tax is based, so that the good manager who can secure a yield 
higher than the ordinary one is benefited, the poor manager 
who allows his forest to deteriorate is punished. Moreover, 
since, as we have seen, wood prices and net yields improve, 
the older tax valuations favor the owner. 

Since the forest owner not only possesses the soil, but in 
a regulated forest management also the accumulated growing 

2H 



4 66 APPENDIX. 

stock (see p. 201) which represents usually 75 to 85 per cent of 
the total forest value, he is by so much richer than the farmer 
on similar soil, drawing interest not only on the soil value but 
also on this accumulated wood property. In Bavaria only the 
soil rent furnishes the basis for taxation, so that the largest 
source of income, the wood stock, is untaxed ; other states 
recognize this principle, hence the forest pays more tax 
than the farm on soil of the same value and size. Formerly 
this was not done, and the forest owner was the favored tax- 
payer. In Prussia and Hesse the intention is to tax the soil 
rent only, but by peculiar method of calculation really a larger 
amount is taxed. 

In Saxony and some other states a most just, elastic, pro- 
gressive income tax for intermittent forest management is in 
vogue, which is collected only when the owner receives an in- 
come, and remains unpaid in years without an income from the 
forest. No regard is here paid as to what part of the forest 
property is responsible for the income, in other words, the 
separation of wood stock and soil is not considered. In 
Prussia, on the other hand, the income from a decimation of 
the wood stock is not considered as liable to tax, because it is 
merely a change in form of capital. 

Of the whole forest value in Germany only £ to | is charge- 
able to soil, soil values for forest purposes rarely exceeding 
$200 and mostly not $100 per acre (see p. 126). 

In general terms the tax value of all the German forests 
figured at 3 per cent with a net income of $63,000,000 assum- 
ing results equal to state forests, represents $2,100,000,000 
($700,000,000 for state forests, $350,000,000 for corporations, 
$1,050,000,000 for private forests), or $60 per acre — one-third 
the value figured on p. 50. (The Saxon state forests, which 
produce the highest net income, are figured as between $115 
and $233.) Allowing £ for the soil, the wood capital repre- 
sents $50 per acre, or the total $1,750,000,000. Allowing a 
similar division of earnings, namely, i to be credited to soil 
and I to stock of wood, the soil rent at 3 per cent figures 



NOTES. 467 

30 cents per acre, varying (in 1895) between 17.2 cents in 
Prussia and 72.2 cents in Saxony. The forest soil in Prussia 
in the tax lists is assessed upon the basis of a net yield varying 
from 18.3 cents to $1.25, average 49.5 cents per acre, while 
the farm soils are taxed upon the basis of a net yield of 81 to 
396 cents, or 182.5 m tne average. 

P. 263. Forest Fire Insurance. — The Gladbacher Fire In- 
surance Company in Germany insures forest properties ac- 
cording to age, species, and local danger. The fire insurance 
value of young stands is calculated by a discount with a 5 per 
cent interest rate on the final harvest value ; for mature stands 
the actual present value is supposed to persist for 10 years. 
The premiums based for each 1000 mark insurance value are 
in the average, 

for broad-leaved forests, . . .0.85 mark ; 
for mixed conifer and broad-leaved forest, 1 .20 mark ; 
for conifers pure, 2 marks. 

The minimum rate is 0.45 mark, the maximum 4 marks per 
1000 mark value. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER X. 

There should have been mentioned in the text, as of par- 
ticular interest to us, what position our neighbor Caiiada has 
taken with regard to her forestry interests. 

Like the United States Canada possesses two forest regions, 
the eastern and the western, divided by a forestless prairie 
and plains country. The northern climate reduces both in 
the east and the west the species composing the forest ; but 
on the whole, the type of forest found at the boundary of the 
United States continues for a considerable distance into Can- 
ada, until with the decimation of species and decrease in de- 
velopment, the more or less open woodlands of the northern 
forest type are reached, where spruce, aspen, and birch of 
inferior quality and no commercial, although of local value, 



468 APPENDIX. 

similar to our interior Alaskan forest, in open stand and 
groves of greater or less extent, are scattered across the 
continent. 

With only a small population, somewhat over 5 millions, on 
an immense area, 3,654,000 square miles, the availability of 
large parts of which are still unknown and only 75 millions 
of acres occupied, Canada has drawn on her immense forest 
resource mainly for export to Great Britain and the United 
States and a few other wood consumers, but the two first- 
mentioned countries dividing the bulk in nearly equal shares. 
The amount of exports is, however, not as large as we would 
be led to believe from the frequent references to Canada's 
position as an exporter of wood, for the values of forest and 
mill products seem not to exceed $30,000,000, to which about 
3 millions more of wood manufactures is to be added, the 
range of exports for the last ten years having been from 
$25,000,000 to $35,000,000, which is reduced by about 
$3,500,000 of imports. This represents a per capita export of 
about 140 cubic feet. It would appear that the United States 
exports on the whole more forest product than Canada, against 
whom she maintains a suicidal wood tariff. 

The great value of Canadian forests was early recognized, 
and even during the French regime reservations were made 
to protect the supply of oak suitable for shipbuilding, and in 
1763, when the English took possession, a more organized 
system was established to accomplish the same object; a cer- 
tain area being set aside in each township, where cutting was 
prohibited except by the contractors for the many yards. 
Again, in 1775, the home government ordered the setting aside 
of large tracts of pine-bearing land. Under this system the 
navy yard contractors had practically a monopoly, and the 
colonial government received no revenue from its forests. In 
1826 in Upper Canada a measure was passed permitting any 
one to cut timber on the ungranted lands by the payment of a 
fixed scale of rate to the Crown, and it is interesting to note 
that already there was an attempt made to perpetuate the 



NOTES. 469 

forest by doubling the rate on all trees cut which would not 
square more than eight inches. By the Crown Timber Act in 
1849 tne granting licenses for one year only was permitted, 
with the provision that at the end of the year the government 
could make any desired change in the regulations. At first 
only a ground rent of 62 cents per square mile, or double that 
if unworked, was charged, but as competition for the limits 
began, the system of auctioning them was introduced, and till 
this time this system has persisted with a few modifications. 
In this way the government still owns the land and has a 
right at any time to refuse to renew licenses. 

At present there is a division of authority in the forest 
administration between the Dominion and the Provincial 
governments. The Dominion administration is under the 
Department of Interior, and controls the land north of Que- 
bec and Ontario, including Labrador on the east and extend- 
ing west to British Columbia and Alaska. The Dominion also 
owns a strip of land in British Columbia along the Canadian 
Pacific Railway, 40 miles wide and 500 miles long, which is 
heavily forested. 

This Dominion forestry branch has been established only 
four years, but already it has a fairly efficient system of fire 
rangers, anji has commenced a great work of forest tree plant- 
ing on the plains. This movement was really started by the 
Experimental Farms under Dr. William Saunders in 1889, 
and since that time to 1901, ij millions of young forest trees 
and cuttings and 8.5 tons of seed, chiefly box-elder and 
green ash, have been distributed among the settlers. This 
work is taken up by the Interior Department more extensively. 

Most of the forest now being exploited comes under the 
jurisdiction of the Provincial governments, except in Manitoba 
and the territories, where the country is new and forest land 
scarce. In Prince Edward Island the forests are almost en- 
tirely under private owners, and not much has been done in 
the way of forestry. In the other provinces the forests are 
perhaps the most valuable form of public wealth. In all, 



470 APPENDIX. 

a system of licensing timber limits with some minor variations 
in price and regulations is in vogue, and in that way the 
timber lands themselves are still largely owned by the govern- 
ment. The main problem before the administrations is the 
fire problem, and all have made some attempts at protection, 
but still large areas are burned over annually, except in On- 
tario, where the ranger system has been very effective, and in 
1 90 1 the loss from fire was slight. During 1901 this pro- 
tection, one-half paid by the limit holders, cost only $30,000, 
an insignificant sum when compared with the losses from fire 
in former years. 

Already over 7,000,000 acres have been set aside by the 
Dominion or Provincial governments as forest reservations, 
and it is expected that in the near future this will be greatly 
increased. Under the Federal Government some ten reserves, 
containing 3,000,000 acres, have been established in Manitoba 
and the Northwest Territories on wooded mountain ranges 
and in the foothills of the Rockies. Ontario has four reserves, 
viz., Lake Temagami of 1,400,000 acres, Algonquin , Park of 
1,109,000 acres, an 80,000-acre tract in Addington and 
Frontenac counties, and 45,000 acres in Sibly County, north 
of Lake Superior. In Quebec, the Laurentide Park contains 
1,634,000 acres, and in the last legislature in New Brunswick 
a bill was passed authorizing the setting apart of a large 
forest reserve on the Crown lands. 

What is greatly to be commended in the forestry adminis- 
tration in Canada is, that the state retains the ownership of 
the land and can at any time set aside any portion desired, 
and that from the sale of the limits, ground rents, and royalties 
on timber cut, a revenue is procured, which in Ontario, at 
least, relieves the people from any direct tax for state pur- 
poses. If, under the present wasteful system of forest ex- 
ploitation, such a revenue is procured, it may confidently be 
expected that a much larger amount will be realized when the 
reservations are increased, as is expected, and the forests are 
placed under scientific management. At present most of the 



NOTES. 471 

reservations, except the Lake Temagami, consist of young 
trees, and it has not been decided what course will be taken 
to harvest the crop. 

Forestry associations exist in the provinces of Quebec, 
British Columbia, and also a Dominion association, founded 
in 1898, which is largely composed of lumbermen, making its 
future work more hopeful. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER XI. 

In addition to the statistics contained in Chapter II and the 
notes to that chapter the following additional data may be of 
interest. The writer must caution readers again that such 
statistics are not to be conceived as mathematically correct 
enumerations. Even census statistics may not be considered 
more than approximations, and contain elements of judgment 
and estimate. To make them practically useful the informa- 
tion they contain must be used with discretion ; the information 
must be completed by estimate, i.e. by "logical inferences 
from data and relations reported." While the enumerations 
should be reported by the enumerator exactly, the statistician 
is justified in rounding off figures, for he is interested merely 
in relationships which are more clearly brought out by such 
rounding off. 

Forest Area of the United States by States. 

The subjoined table gives an estimate of the areas which 
either bear commercially valuable forest or are capable of 
producing such without effort of man in our generation. 

This table is based upon a similar table prepared by the 
writer in 1893, corrected upon the basis of the farm area 
reported by the twelfth census. 

The geographical arrangement and sub-additions have been 
made with a view of bringing out the relative commercial and 
economic value of the forest areas. 



472 



APPENDIX. 



United States 
Maine ... 
New Hampshire 
Vermont . . 
Massachusetts 
Rhode Island . 
Connecticut 

New England 
states . . 

New York . . 
Pennsylvania . 
New Jersey 
Delaware . . 
Maryland . . 
Middle Atlantic 
states . . 

Virginia . . . 
North Carolina 
South Carolina 
Georgia . . . 

Southern Atlan 
tic states 

Atlantic Coast 

Florida . . 
Alabama 
Mississippi . 
Louisiana . 

Gulf states 

Texas . . 

Michigan . 
Wisconsin . 
Minnesota . 

Northern lum 
bering states 

Ohio . . . 

Indiana . , 
Illinois . , 

Northern agn 
cultural states 

Lake States 

West Virginia 
Kentucky . 
Tennessee . 
Arkansas 
Missouri 

Central states 



Area. 



Total land 
surface. 



Thousand 

acres. 
1,900,800 



i9» I 3 2 
5,783 

5,846 

5,i55 

694 

3,100 



39,7io 



3 ,376 

28,790 

4,671 

^,254 
6,310 



71,401 



25,680 
31,089 
19,308 
38,647 



"4,724 



225,835 



34,7*3 
32,986 
29,658 
29,069 



126,426 



167,808 



36,755 
34.848 
50,691 



122 2Q4 



26,086 
22,982 
35,840 



84.Q08 



207, 



15,772 
25,600 
20,72O 

33,949 

43,990 

146,031 



Improved 
land in 
farms. 



Thousand 
acres. 
414,793 



2,386 
1,076 
2,126 
1,292 
187 
1,064 



8,131 



15,599 
13,209 

i,977 

754 

3,5i6 



35,o55 



10,094 
8,327 
5,775 

10,615 



34,8n 



77,997 



1,511 
8,654 

7,594 
4,666 



22,425 



19,576 



",799 
11,246 
18,442 



41,487 



19,244 
16,680 
27,699 



63,623 



105,110 



5,498 
I3,74i 
10,245 

6,953 
22,900 

59,337 



Per cent. 



Improved 
land. 



19 
36 
25 
27 

34 



5i 
46 
42 
60 
56 



49 



39 
27 

30 
27 



30 



35 



4 
26 
26 
16 

18 



32 
32 
36 



34 



74 
73 
77 



75 



5i 



35 
54 
38 
21 

JJL 
41 



Brush, 
forest, 

and 
waste 

land. 



j£_ 



81 
64 
75 
73 
66 



80 



49 
54 
58 
40 

44 



JJL 



61 

73 
70 

73 



_Z°_ 



65 



96 
74 
74 
84 



82 



68 
68 
64 



66 



26 
27 
23 



25 



49 



65 
46 
62 

79 
_48_ 

59 



Prob- 

ably 

forest. 



26 



64 
62 

42 

29 
40 

29 



_5?_ 



3° 
24 
4 1 
24 
32 



28 



48 
54 
45 
50 



_49_ 




5o 
23 



50 
47 
36 



43 



16 
15 



13 



3^ 



52 
43 
55 
60 

48 



Brush 
land. 



NOTES. 



473 



Table continued. 





Area. 


Per cent. 




Total land 
surface. 


Improved 
land in 
farms. 


Improved 
land. 


Brush, 
forest, 
and 
waste 
land. 


Prob- 
ably 
forest. 


Brush 
land. 


Open 
coun- 
try. 


Iowa 

North Dakota . . 
South Dakota . . 
Nebraska . . . 
Kansas .... 
Oklahoma . . . 


Thousand 
acres. 

35,504 
45,3o8 
49,696 
42,998 
52,288 
24,960 


Thousand 
acres 
29,897 

9,644 
11,285 
18,432 
25,040 

5,5" 


84 
21 

23 
43 
48 
22 


16 
79 
77 
57 

52 
78 


13 

1 
2 
3 
7 


20 
16 
21 
21 




Prairie states . 


250,754 


99.809 


40 


60 


4 




Interior States 


306,785 


159,146 


40 


60 


20 




Montana . . . 
Wyoming . . . 
Colorado . . . 
New Mexico . . 


92,998 
62,448 
66,332 
78,374 


i,73 6 
792 

2,273 
326 


2 

1 

3 
0.4 


98 
99 
97 
99.6 


18 

12 

16 

6 


60 

71 
60 

72 


Eastern Rocky 
Mountain region 


300,154 


5.127 


2 


98 


13 


20 


65 


Nevada .... 
Arizona .... 


53.C45 
70,233 
52,601 
72,268 


1,413 

572 

1,032 

254 


3 
0.8 

2 
o-3 


97 
99.2 

98 
99-7 


20 

16 
14 


40 

9 

27 

12 


37 
90 

55 
74 


Western Rocky 
Mountain region 


249,047 


3,271 


1.3 


98.7 


8 


22 


69 


Rocky Moun- 
tain REGION . 


549,201 


8,398 


i-5 


98.5 


10 


21 


67 5 


California . . . 
Oregon .... 
Washington . . 


99,827 
60,518 
42,703 


11,958 
3,328 
3,465 


12 

5 
8 


88 
95 
92 


18 
35 
52 


27 
28 
20 


43 
32 
20 


Pacific coast 


203,048 


18,751 


9 


91 


3° 


27 


34 



Note. — The authority for the area of improved farm land is furnished by the 
census of 1900. The areas of forest, brush, and waste lands were ascertained by 
subtracting the area of cultivated land from the total land areas of the several 
states, and are placed as per cent of the total areas in column 4. The part of 
these supposed to be forest is estimated on information obtained by various 
agencies. For the western section of the country the further subdivision into 
forest, brush, and open country is based partly on statistics gathered by Colonel 
Ensign and published in Bulletin 2 of the Division of Forestry, and partly on the 
map published in the report of the Forestry Division for 1892. 

These figures would indicate that, in round numbers, less 
than 415 million acres are turned into farm lands, about two- 
thirds of which was hewn out of the forest ; that the pro- 
ductive area of forest growth, by no means all virgin, falls 



474 APPENDIX. 

somewhat below 500 million acres ; that nearly 450 million 
acres are open country which is presumably incapable of pro- 
ducing any valuable forest growth on account of climatic defi- 
ciencies, leaving a balance of over 500 million acres as waste 
and brush land, of which at least three-fifths have been 
made so by the combined efforts of axe and fire. 

The territorial distribution of the forest area may be broadly 
defined as follows : — 

(1) The Atlantic forest, covering mountains and valleys in 
the east, reaching westward to the Mississippi River and 
beyond to the Indian Territory and south into Texas, an 
area of about 1,361,330 square miles, mostly of mixed 
growth, hardwoods and conifers, with here and there large 
areas of coniferous growth alone — a vast and continuous 
forest. 

(2) The mountain forest of the west, or Pacific forest, cov- 
ering the higher elevations below timber line of the Rocky 
Mountains, Sierra Nevada, and Coast Range, which may be 
estimated at 181,015 square miles, almost exclusively of 
coniferous growth, of enormous development on the northern 
Pacific coast, more or less scattered in the interior and to the 
south. 

(3) The prairies, plains, lower elevations, and valleys of 
the west, with a scattered tree growth, on which, whether 
from climatic, geologic, or other causes, forest growth is con- 
fined mostly to the river bottoms or other favorable situations, 
an area of about 1,427,655 square miles, of which 276,965 
square miles may be considered under forest cover of decidu- 
ous species east of the Rockies and of coniferous and deciduous 
species in the west of this divide. 

The maps to be found in the reports of the Forestry Di- 
vision, United States Department of Agriculture, for 1893, 
and in the oft-cited H. R. Doc. 181, give an idea of the rela- 
tive location of these forest areas and their economic value. 
Volume XI. Part 3 of the Twelfth Census contains not only 
a very detailed and full elaboration of the statistics of the 



NOTES. 475 

lumber industry, but also a map showing the distribution of 
that industry over the country by values produced per square 
mile. This shows the most intense concentration of this 
manufacture in the northern section of Michigan, Wisconsin, 
and Minnesota ; in the middle west of New York and Penn- 
sylvania, in Maine and New Hampshire, and, on the Pacific 
coast, in Washington and on a small territory in Oregon 
along the Columbia River, while the centres of intensive pro- 
duction in the Southern states are more widely scattered 
with reference to shipping ports along the coast and Missis- 
sippi River. 

Statistics of Wood Consumption. 

The eleventh volume of the Twelfth Census, containing re- 
ports on " Selected Industries,' 1 reaches the writer in time to 
give the following brief resume of the lumber interests. 

The census of 1900 for the first time seems to have secured 
tolerably full although still incomplete statistics of the lumber 
industry of the United States, which show that the estimate of 
the writer of 40 billion feet B.M. (see pp. 40 and 349) annual 
consumption is as near the truth as it can possibly be stated, 
including all material requiring log and bolt size, for the saw- 
mill product alone is placed by the census at 35 billion feet, 
precisely the amount which the writer deduced from the re- 
ported sawmill capacity in 1898. 1 The allowance of 5 billion 
feet for staves and headings, railroad ties, round and hewn 
timber used locally, telegraph poles, etc., is, indeed, hardly 
sufficient. Since, however, in the census statistics there are 
undoubtedly duplications, we may perhaps still adhere, for all 
purposes of economic discussions, to our round figure of 
40 billion as representing fairly our present annual consump- 
tion. The summary of the census (1900), mixing up sawmills, 
planing mills, and timber camps, stands as follows : — 

1 H. R. Doc. 181, 55th Cong., 3d sess., p. 119. 



476 



APPENDIX. 



Number of establishments (reporting or exist 
ing?) . 

Capital invested 

Salaried officials, 12,530 

Wage earners, 283,260 

Miscellaneous expenses 

Cost of materials used 

Value of products, total 

Saw mill . . . $422,812,061 

Planing mill . . 107,622,519 

Timber camps . . 36,398,404 

Quantity of sawed lumber, M ft., B.M. . 



33.035 
>6i 1,61 1,524 

11,260,608 

104,640,591 

*7,73h5 l 9 

317,923,548 

566,832,984 



35,084,166 



The Chief Statistician of Manufactures, commenting on 
these statistics, which show an increase in lumber product of 
30 per cent over that reported by the eleventh census, writes : — 

" The consumption of wood in the industries is increasing 
at a much more rapid rate than the population, in spite of the 
fact that in many articles metals are substituted for wood. 
While the timber is being used more and more economically 
and the waste is being diminished year by year, still the rate 
of destruction of the forests is yearly increasing." 

The figure of $318,000,000 represents the cost of the logs 
and other raw materials at the various mills which produced 
the 35 million feet of lumber and whatever other products 
were produced in the mills. Discrepancies between the re- 
ported output of the logging camps (26 billion feet), and that 
of the sawmills, amounting to over 36 per cent ( !), are explained 
by the compiler as due to failure of small concerns reporting 
on the former and to increase in the scale at the mill. 

The sawmills alone seem to have produced from logs, 

bolts, and cords of wood valued at $135,000,000 a product 

valued at $423,000,000. In addition to the 35 million feet of 

umber valued at $390,000,000,! representing 92 per cent 



1 In another table this is reported as $385,298,304. Altogether the 
tabulations do not always agree. 



NOTES. 



477 



of the whole, the following materials were produced at the 
mills : — 

Output of Factories using Wood Products. 







Value. 


Material. 


Quantity. 


Million 
dollars. 


Shingles, M 


12,102,007 


18.9 


Hoops, M ..... 


44I,3 2 7 


2.7 


Staves, M 


1,664,792 


137 


Headings, M . . . . 


124,089 


4-3 


Bobbin and spool stock, M ft. 


40,037 


•5 


Furniture stock, M ft. 


105,305 


1.9 


Agricultural implement stock, M ft. 


33, 2 50 


.6 


Carriage and wagon stock, M ft. 


82,686 


1.8 


Pickets and paling, M . . . 


35,804 


•3 


Laths, M 


2,523,998 


47 


All other sawed products 




19.6 



The mill product outside the lumber value was therefore 
round $70,000,000. 

These, as well as the following products of timber camps, 
exhibit the great variety of wood materials, all of smaller 
value, yet aggregating considerable quantities. While these 
represent reported amounts from regular mills and camps, 
an unknown quantity is furnished from irregular sources, — 
farmers and jobbers. 

Altogether it is certain that census figures must remain 
considerably below the actual truth, owing to the difficulty of 
reaching all the information. 

The independent timber camps added to the 3383 million 
feet of logs cut for sale, valued at $20,600,000, the following 
products, aggregating about $15,000,000 : — 



478 



APPENDIX. 







Value. 


Material. 


Quantities. 


Thousand 
dollars. 


Logs for export, M ft. 


85,306 


580 


Hewed timber, M ft. 








39759 


348 


Basket stock, M ft. 








7443 


28 


Cooperage stock, cords 








82,546 


347 


Excelsior stock, cords 








12,670 


49 


Fence posts, No. 








8,715,661 


606 


Hop poles, No. 








1,205,700 


12 


Handle stock, cords 








6423 


42 


Hemlock bark, cords 








473,222 


W5 


Oak bark, cords 








39, 8 44 


229 


Piles, No. 








396,629 


759 


Paving stock, cords 








554 


2 


Railway ties 








22,591,894 


6,299 


Shingles, rived, M . 








41433 


78 


Mast and spars, No. 








2,580 


29 


Ship knees, No. 








1,601 


5 


Telegraph poles, No. 








937,963 


1,394 


Wheel stock, cords . 








9 ? 3i7 


46 


Charcoal, bush. 








6,79 6 ,334 


459 


All other products . 




1,666 



The distribution of the sawed product as reported by regions 
shows as follows : — 







Adding f for 




Million feet B.M. 


non-enumerated 
materials. 


New England, N. Atlantic states 


5,530 


6-3 


Central states .... 


2,420 


2.8 


Lake states • . 


8,760 


IO. 


Southern states 


14,500 


16.6 


Pacific states . ... 


2,900 


3-3 


Rocky Mountain states 


560 


.64 


Miscellaneous .... 


400 


.46 



NOTES. ■ 479 

If we compare this distribution with that given on p. 350 
for the census year 1890, allowing for the non-enumerated 
materials at the same proportion in all districts, it would 
appear that the cut in the first group of states has probably 
slightly increased, but that the cut in the Central and Lake 
states has very materially decreased, unquestionably owing to 
decrease in supplies ; while the Southern states have increased 
their output to meet this deficiency, and the increase in the 
Western states is but slight. Although regionally the white 
pine district is now in its total production outstripped by the 
Southern states, yet the three states of Wisconsin, Michigan, 
and Minnesota are still by far the three largest lumber-pro- 
ducers, in the order named, with Pennsylvania a close fourth, 
these four states furnishing nearly one-quarter of the value and 
one-third of the product. The white pine product of the three 
Lake states has been reduced nearly 40 per cent since 1890, 
the year of maximum production. At that time it was 8.6 bil- 
lion feet (not including shingles) ; gradually decreasing, it has 
fallen now (1901) to 54 billion. 

The American Lumberman, which furnishes these data 
most acceptably, formerly ridiculing the idea of waning sup- 
plies, comments on this decline significantly : — 

" We may say that if former methods of collecting statistics 
had been followed there would have been a heavier decline. 
That is to say, the report for 1901 is more nearly complete 
than that for any previous year. It means simply that the 
timber is disappearing, that the still increasing wants of the 
country must be and are supplied to an increasing extent from 
other sources. In that decline we see the chief stimulus to 
the growth of the lumber industry in the South and on the 
Pacific coast." And further accentuating the change of stand- 
ards, which made earlier estimates of standing timber wrong : 
"But what a change in quality! If all the remaining white 
pine could be manufactured into lumber and put on the mar- 
ket at once, it is doubtful if there would be as much good lum- 
ber, to say nothing about uppers, as there was in 1882 alone." 



48o 



APPENDIX. 



And referring to the low condition of stocks in the yards : 
"The reason of this decrease in stocks seems to be that the 
demand can no longer be satisfied by drawing stocks down, 
but that the demand must in a measure remain unsatisfied or be 
supplied with other woods." 

With due allowance for differences in manner of collating 
statistics, failures in securing information, and differences of 
values in money and price, the following figures of the vari- 
ous censuses may be used at least to show the tendencies of 
increase in the lumber output, giving the per cent of increase 
over each previous decade. 

1850. 1860. 1870. 1880. 1890. 1900. 

18.8 



Number of establishments, 
thousands . . . 

Per cent increase . 
Capital, million dollars 

Per cent increase . 

Laborers, thousands 
Per cent increase . 

Cost of materials, million 
dollars 
Per cent increase . 

Value of products, million 
dollars . . . 
Per cent increase . 
Population, millions 
Per cent increase . 



20.7 25.8 25.7 22.6 33 
10 25 0.5 12 46 

41.4 74.5 143.5 181. 2 557.9 611.6 
80 93 26 208 10 

55.8 75.8 150 148 312 283 
36 98 1.4 in 9 

28 44.6 103.3 x 4 6 242.6 3 T 7-9 
57 133 41 66 31 

60.4 96.7 210.2 233.3 43 8 S 6 6.8 
60 117 11 88 29 

23.2 31.4 38.6 50.2 62.6 76.3 
36 23 3° 25 22 



From this it would 
years grew by 228 
period grew by 840 
an increase similar 
on p. 453 et seq. 

Exports of wood, 
have also increased 

1894 

1895 . 
* 1896 



appear that while the population in the 50 
per cent, its lumber bill during the same 
per cent, or from $2.60 per capita to $7-43, 
to that of the European nations as noted 

its manufactures, and other forest products 
lately at a rapid rate, namely, as follows : — 

Million dollars. 

27.7 

27.I 

3 1 - - 



NOTES. 



481 



1897. 
1898 
1899 
1900 



Million dollars. 

- 39-6 

> 37-5 

• 4i-5 

50.6 



While imports have remained nearly stationary and usually 
below $20,000,000 in value ; of the exports less than 25 per 
cent are manufactured articles. 

The census compiler furnishes the following table, attempt- 
ing to show the change in proportions of the total lumber 
product furnished by geographical divisions from census year 
to census year : — 





Northeastern 


Lake 


Southern 


Pacific 




states. 


states. 


states. 


states. 


1850 


54-5 


6.4 


13-8 


3-9 


i860 


36.2 


I3.6 


16.5 


6.2 


1870 


36.8 


24.4 


9.4 


3-6 


1880 


24.8 


33-4 


II.9 


3-5 


1890 


18.4 


36.3 


I5.9 


7-3 


1900 . . • . . . 


16.0 


27.4 


25.2 


9.6 



These figures represent only the reported mill cut with all 
the uncertainties accruing from differences in their collation, 
but bring out sufficiently clearly the change in supplies, 
namely, the steady decrease in the northeastern states, the 
beginning decline in the Lake states, the increase in the 
southern output, and the slower increase in the Pacific states, 
mainly for home consumption, hence in relation to increase 
of population. 

The different species are reported to have participated in 
the total cut as follows, arranged according to the relative 
position in the supply, verifying the writer's estimate, that 
three-fourths of our consumption is of coniferous wood, the 
pines alone furnishing 50 per cent of all lumber cut : — 



482 



APPENDIX. 



Conifers. 
Southern Pine (several species) 

White Pine 

Hemlock 

Spruce (and Balsam ?) . . . 

Cypress 

Norway Pine 

Cedar 

Tamarack 

Eastern Section . . . 
Red (Douglas) Fir . . . . 

Hemlock 

Yellow Pine (western) . . . 

Redwood 

Cedar 

Sugar Pine 

Tamarack 

Western Section . . . 
All others 

Total 

Hardwoods (broad-leaved) . 
Oak (various species) . . . 

Poplar (Tulip) 

Maple 

Elm 

Cottonwood 

Basswood 

Gum (Red) 

Ash 

Chestnut 

Birch 

Hickory 

Black Walnut 

Sycamore 

All others 

Totals 



Quantity. 
Million feet, B.M. 



4438 
III5 

633 
456 

415 
308 
285 
269 
207 
133 

97 
39 

3° 

208 



21,250 



4,870 
33 

26,153 



8,633 
34,786 



Value. 

Thousand 

dollars. 



80,726 

94,980 

17,832 

16,323 

6,604 

3,022 

1,283 

104 

15,050 
16,305 

9> 2 35 
3.646 
1,260 

659 
338 

1,114 

268,481 



61,174 
15,646 

7,495 
5,240 

4,304 

3,955 

2,748 
4,264 
2,764 
1,658 
1,815 
1,412 
328 
4,015 

116,817 



NOTES. 



483 



These figures do not, however, fully reveal the relative 
position of the different species in the wood supply ; for the 
spruce, for instance, the consumption of sizeable material for 
wood pulp, with not less than 1000 million feet, will have to 
be added, and for other species from the same source some 
300 million ; the cut on farms, which is placed at nearly 
$120,000,000 in value, in part log or bolt size material, and not 
brought to mills, will have to be considered probably mainly 
in the hardwood cut. On the whole, the distribution given on 
p. 350 remains relatively correct. It is especially interesting 
to note the large amount of hemlock reported as cut on the 
Pacific coast (see p. 361). 

Statements are also made in the census report of the prob- 
able stand of uncut timber of the various species, without, 
however, giving the basis for such estimates, or rather guesses. 
These figures are as follows : — 













Billion Feet, B.M. 


Species. 


Standing. 


Owned by 
lumbermen. 


Southern Pine 


300 


46.5 


White Pine . 










50 


16.4 


Hemlock 










100 


6.8 


Spruce (Eastern) 










50 


8.6 


Cypress . 










65 


6.6 


Red Fir . 










300 


23.8 


Western Pine . 










125 


24.6 


Redwood 










75 


14-3 


Sugar Pine 










25 


3-9 


Hardwood (one-half oak) 






? 


3o- 



These guesses would indicate a stock on hand of merchant- 
able coniferous wood of not less than 1100 billion feet, of 
which round one-half is credited to the Eastern states. The 



484 



APPENDIX. 



writer does not see any reason for accepting these guesses as 
better than his own, or to change his general deduction, that 
with a present cut of probably over 24 billion feet (including 
pulp wood), which. is increasing 30 per cent in every decade, 
the Eastern supplies will be cut out sooner than they can be 
replaced by recuperative measures. That only 14 per cent of 
this valuable property is reported as owned by lumbermen is 
rather surprising. The total amount of all species thus held 
is stated as 215,550 million feet, "probably somewhat more 
than one-tenth the amount now standing in the country!" 

In other words, the rough estimate of the writer recorded 
on p. 52 is accepted by the census compiler, Mr. Gannett, as 
within reasonable truth, and we would then have not fifty 
years 1 supply in sight. We had hoped the census would 
prove this sad foreboding unfounded! 

The following tabulation, based probably on more sub- 
stantial data than the estimate of standing timber, is of inter- 
est in showing the relative productiveness and value of timber 
lands in the various sections of the country. It reports the 
acreage, contents, and value (capital invested) of the forest 
holdings of the 8888 lumber firms reporting such. 



Section. 



Eastern group 
Lake group . 
Central group 
Southern group 
Pacific group 
Miscellaneous group 

United States 



Capital. 

Thousand 

dollars. 



40,700 

I7,5 2 7 
54,037 
23785 

3,755 
214,989 



Acres owned. 
Thousands. 



4,500 
6,694 

3*244 

12,414 

3,188 

2,182 

32,222 



Average 

stand of 

merchantable 

timber 

per acre. 

Feet, B.M. 



4,700 
4,900 
4,700 
5,000 
24,500 
2,500 

6,700 



NOTES. 485 

These figures accord closely enough with the writer's concep- 
tion, which was used in making the computation of the standing 
timber recorded on p. 52 upon the basis of the area stated 
on pp. 472-473- 

The compiler comments as follows : " The average stand 
of timber per acre, being that of selected tracts owned by 
lumbermen, is, of course, higher than the average of the coun- 
try or state, and in the case of several of the states where the 
average stand has been obtained, it is known to be much 
higher. Thus in Minnesota the average stand is about one- 
half that here given, or about 2000 feet per acre. The same is 
the case in Oregon and Washington, where the large stands 
here given (24,500) must be divided by 2 to obtain the average 
stand of the state. The southern pine has an average stand, 
according to the best information, 1 of not far from 3000 feet 
per acre, a little lower perhaps in the east and somewhat higher 
in the west." 

With such reductions we can accept Mr. Gannett's forest 
area of 700 million acres and find the condition of supplies 
even worse than the writer has presented it in Chap. XI. 

The average investment for stumpage would, from the above 
tabulation for the better lands, be $1 per M feet or $6.70 per 
acre ; but it is well known that these figures are understate- 
ments as to the true stumpage value, and the tables recording 
the stumpage values for different states and different species 
show this to be the case. Here the stumpage value per 
M feet is given as $2.18, which, with an average stand of 
6700 per acre, makes the stumpage value per acre $14.60. 
That even these recorded stumpage values remain below the 
actual truth, at least in certain instances, may be judged from 
the statement that the stumpage for white pine ranges in the 
states in which it is of importance between $3.50 and $4 per 
M, when in actual sales double the higher figure has been 

1 See Dr. Charles Mohr, " The Timber Pines of the Southern United 
States." 



486 



APPENDIX. 



paid, and this year millions of feet stumpage have been sold at 
more than $8 per M ft. Spruce stumpage is given as ranging 
between $2 and $3, when actual sales in New York were made 
at more than the latter price. 

The range of average stumpage varies from 80 cents in 
Washington to $4.95 in Iowa, while saw logs are valued from 
$4.02 in Nevada to $12.16 in Iowa, or $6.28 for the country, 
the cost of logging being therefore $3.90 per M in the average 
and may go up as high as $7. At present, with increase in 
labor and provisions, this cost is increased considerably. 

The average stumpage values per M feet B.M. of different 
species based upon the statements of forest-owning lumber- 
men figure out as follows : — 



Conifers 






Average. 


Maximum 


White Pine .... $3.66 


$4.00 


Norway Pine . 






. 2.88 




Hemlock 






2.56 


3.OO 


Spruce 1 






2.26 


3-oo 


Sugar Pine 






1.96 




Cedar 






. 1.32 


2.00 


Yellow Pine 2 . 






1. 12 


I.60 


Cypress . 






1.58 




Redwood 






1.06 




Tamarack 






1. 00 




Red (Douglas) Fir 




•77 


I.06 


Hardwood 

Black Walnut . . .5.00 




Elm 3.30 




White Oak 8 . 






3.18 


5-38 



1 Spruce stumpage in New York is now not less than $4. 

2 Mixes southern and western yellow pine ; the former alone appears 
to average $1.20, its maximum $1.60 in Virginia, an exceedingly low 
figure for good pine property, which is now often sold at more than 
double this figure. 

8 Includes probably all commercial oaks. 





NOTES. 






Hardwood — continued 




Average. 


Maximum 


Ash 


. 


• 3-03 




Poplar (Tulip) 


. 


. 2.81 


3-00 


Chestnut 


. . < 


2.71 




Maple . 


. . . 


2.66 




Red Gum 


• • 


1.68 




Basswood 


• • * 


1.50 




Cottonwood . 


. 


145 





487 



The lumber industry is stated to be the fourth among the 
great manufacturing industries of the country in value of prod- 
ucts, being exceeded by the iron and steel, the textile, and the 
meat industry. But this does not state the relative value of 
forest products, including the large amount of fuel wood and 
other materials of home consumption not going through the 
mills, and the valuable by-products. 

If all these unenumerated forest products are counted in, 
the forest resource as a producer of values is unquestionably 
second only to agriculture. 

P. 342. Reservation of Mountain Forests in connection with 
Irrigation. — In the western country, as Mr. Newell states, 1 
" the forests of the arid region not only mark the greatest 
rainfall but also indicate the locality from which come the 
principal streams. The headwaters of nearly all of our rivers 
which give value to the lands are within the forested regions." 
Hence the close connection between the extensive irrigation 
plans and forest management. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER XII. 

P. 371. Fears of Wood Famine. — The fear of a wood 
famine troubled the minds not only of our ancestors in this 
country but still more so in the countries of Europe a hundred 
years ago, before railroad transportation and navigation had 

1 " Irrigation in the United States, " by F. H. Newell. T. Y. Crowell 
& Co., 1902. 



488 APPENDIX. 

been developed to their modern proportions, making us inde- 
pendent of local supplies. 

This is most strikingly exhibited by the following list of 
titles taken from the catalogue of the library of the well-known 
German forest academy at Tharandt, which show that in Ger- 
many one hundred years ago forest conditions must have been 
somewhat similar to ours, or worse, and remedies, quack and 
otherwise, were being discussed as freely as with us. 
Collection of economic information, how to promote wood- 
growth, introduce better economy in the case of wood, 
and prevent scarcity of wood supplies by applying build- 
ing timber more usefully, 1762. 
On the general deficiency of wood supplies and on the means 

how to meet it, 1765. 
Proposition, how to meet the general decrease of wood sup- 
plies most quickly and surely, if not entirely at least for 
the greater part, 1788. 
Prize essay on the question : How is the rapidly coming 
wood famine to be avoided and a proper reforestation of 
waste lands to be secured, 1794. 
Answer to the question : How the scarcity of wood can be 

overcome, 1795. 
Open thoughts on scarcity of wood, especially of fire wood, in 

Schleswig-Holstein and how to help it, 1798. 
On wood famine, 1799. 
Something on deficiency of wood supplies, with propositions 

how to cure it, 1799. 
The Catalpa ( ! ) x a sure means of avoiding the wood famine, 

1800. 
On some of the causes of wood scarcity which have not yet 

been recognized and appreciated, 1800. 
Forestry, or instructions how the deficiency in wood supply 
may be met, and their increase promoted, 1801. 

1 This has been pointed out with similar hopes in this country. 
See Bulletin No. 37, Bureau of Forestry, giving a full description of 
characteristics of plantations of the Hardy Catalpa. 



NOTES. 



489 



Contributions to the avoidance of a wood famine, 1801. 
Open thoughts on scarcity, prices, economy, in the use of 

wood, and on silviculture, 1802. 
Something on the general scarcity of wood in the Austrian 

states, 1805. 
Investigations on the value of wood and the importance of the 

economic use of wood, 1806. 
Wood famine and the state forests, 1840. 
On deforestation and increase of wood prices, with remarks on 

the propositions which are made for the conservation of 

forests, 1843. 
Short instructions for the increase and economic use of wood, 

1845. 
The cause of increased wood prices and the importance of the 

care and preservation of forests as the only means to 

reduce them, 1846. 
P. 409. Federal Forest Reservations. — There are at present 
writing (October, 1902) 54 forest reservations, created under 
the act of March 3, 1891, embracing over 60 million acres, 
namely : — 







Acres. 


State or territory. 


Name of reserve. 


Thou- 
sands. 


Alaska 


Afognak Forest and Fish 


. 




Culture .... 


404 




The Alexander Archipelago 


4,506 


Arizona 


Grand Canon 


1,852 




San Francisco Mountain . 


W5 




Black Mesa 


4,659 




Prescott .... 


424 




Santa Rita .... 


387 




Santa Catalina . 


156 




Mount Graham . 


119 




Chiricahua .... 


170 


California . 


San Gabriel 


556 




Sierra .... 


4,096 




San Bernardino . 


737 




Trabuco Canon . 


no 



490 



APPENDIX. 







Acres. 


State or territory. 


Name of reserve. 


Thou- 
sands. 


California . 


Stanislaus .... 


69I 




San Jacinto 




668 




Pine Mountain and 


Zaca 






Lake 




1,645 




Lake Tahoe 




136 




Santa Ynez 




J 45 


Colorado . 


White River 




M3° 




Pike's Peak 




184 




Plum Creek 




179 




South Platte 




684 




Battlement Mesa 




858 




San Isabel . 




78 


Idaho and Montana . 


Bitterroot . 




4,147 


Idaho and Washington 


Priest River 




645 


Montana . 


Flathead . 




1,382 




Lewis and Clarke 




2,926 




Gallatin 




40 




Little Belt Mountains 


501 




Madison .... 


736 




Absaroka .... 


*,3 12 


Nebraska . 


Dismal River 




85 




Niobrara . 




124 


New Mexico 


Pecos River 




43 l 




Gila River . 




2,3 2 7 




Lincoln 




500 


Oklahoma . 


Wichita 




57 


Oregon 


Bull Run . 




142 




Cascade Range . 




4,436 




Ashland 




l 9 


South Dakota and 








Wyoming 


Black Hills 




1,212 


Utah .... 


Uintah 




876 




Fish Lake . 




68 




Payson 




86 


Washington 


Washington 




3,426 




Mt. Rainier 




2,028 


Wyoming . 


Yellowstone 




1,834 




Big Horn . 




1,217 




Teton 




4,127 




Crow Creek 




56 




Medicine Bow . 




421 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

A very full bibliography bearing upon the subject-matter 
of this volume, mainly of German literature, but with a few 
references to French, English, and other languages, is to be 
found in Dr. Adam Schwappach's Forstpolitik, Jagd- u. 
Fischereipolitik, which appeared in 1894 as the 10th volume 
of the Hand- und Lehrbuch der Staatswissenschaften, edited 
by Kuno Frankenstein. The volume itself is probably the 
best and most complete work on the subject, written, to be 
sure, from German points of view and including the fish and- 
game interests. 

This bibliography divides the subject, outside of the last 
two phases, into 16 sub-heads with over 600 titles (644 with 
repetitions), viz. : — 

I. Encyclopaedic hand-books, or histories of 
forestry, forest politics and forest law, 
and writings of general, theoretical, and 

methodological contents 119 titles 

II. Collective works, reports, annuals, and mag- 
azines 96 " 

III. Forest law and forest legislation of different 

States 49 " 

IV. History and description of forest adminis- 

trations in different states and parts of 

states 63 u 

V. Conditions of production, economic signifi- 
cance, material and immaterial benefits of 

the forest 128 " 

VI. State forests and state forest administrations 40 " 
VII. Education, experimentation, and associa- 
tion — The organs of forest politics . . 29 " 
491 



492 APPENDIX. 

VIII. Means of transportation in forestry . . . 10 titles 

IX. Tariff on wood 10 " 

X. Forest servitudes (rights of user) . . . . 16 " 

XI. Partition and collocation of forest property 

and associations for forest management . 5 " 

XII. Forest laborers 4 " 

XIII. Protective forests 14 " 

XIV. Supervision of private and communal forest 

management 14 " 

XV. Police protection of forests 16 " 

XVI. Forest statistics 31 " 

The scope of Dr. Schwappach^s treatment of the part en- 
titled Forest Politics, will appear from a statement of the 
headings : — 

I. Conditions of production in forestry ... 28 pages 
II. The significance of forests in the national 

economy 18 " 

III. Forest policies (Forstwirthschaftspflege) . 145 " 

1. The state forest. 

2. Forestry education. 

3. Forestry experimentation. 

4. Forest statistics. 

5. Forestry associations. 

6. Transportation of wood. 

7. Tariffs on wood. 

8. Servitudes. 

9. Division and amalgamation of forest properties. 
10. Insurance of forest laborers. 

IV. Forest police 61 pages 

1. Protective forests. 

2. Supervision of private forestry. 

3. Supervision of corporate forests. 

4. Police protection. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 493 

In the catalogue of the Library of the Royal Saxon Forest 
Academy at Tharandt, published in 1900 and containing a list 
of over 23,000 volumes, the subdivision entitled Forest Admin- 
istration, Forest Politics, and Forest Statistics alone contains 
731 titles. 

In the " Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften," edited 
by Conrad, Elster, Lexis, and Loening (Jena, 1900, Gustav 
Fisher), an excellent article on Forsten by M. Endres treats 
the subject on 64 large 8vo pages very comprehensively and 
somewhat in the manner of the present volume, in three 
chapters, namely, I, Significance, Extent, and History of 
Forests; II, Forest Management; III, Forest Politics. A 
selected bibliography accompanies each chapter ; the last 
chapter more particularly referring to our subject contains 
only 63 titles and the entire bibliography about 160 titles. 
The writer is indebted for much statistical information to this 
article. 

In the " Handbuch der Forstwissenschaft, 1 ' edited by Dr. 
Tuisko Lorey (Tubingen, 1887, 3 vols, large 8vo), one of 
the best encyclopaedic works for the professional forester, 
J. Lehr, the author of the very complete chapter on Forest 
Politics, contents himself with a bibliography of 24 titles. 

These four lists lay naturally all or special stress on German 
publications. 

The French literature contains only few comprehensive 
treatises on the subject, but a large amount of ephemeral or 
magazine writings, especially on the reboisement of the 
mountain forests, climatic influences, the duty of the state, etc. 
The best journal of reference is " Revue des eaux et forets." 

The best work on the extensive reboisement operations of 
the French government is that of Demontzey. 

The English literature shows a considerable dearth of 
literature on all forestry subjects, except with reference to the 
forests of India, the Indian Forester being now the only 
English forestry journal since the Journal of Forestry was 
abandoned seventeen years ago. 



494 APPENDIX. 

In the following list of books only a few standard works of 
general interest and works of reference are given, which cover 
the subject sufficiently for the general reader. The student 
is referred for fuller lists to the above-cited sources. The 
list of American reference books has been made as full as 
possible. 

German. 

Arndt, E. Die Privatforstwirthschaft in Preussen. Berlin, 

1889. 
Arnold, v. Russlands Wald. Berlin, 1893. 
Bedo, A. Die wirthschaftliche u. commerzielle Beschreibung 

der Walder des Ungarischen Staates. Budapest, 1885. 
Bernhardt, A. Die Waldwirthschaft und der Waldschutz mit 

besonderer Rucksicht auf die Waldschutzgesetzgebung in 

Preussen. Berlin, 1869. 
Bernhardt, A. Geschichte des Waldeigenthums, der Wald- 
wirthschaft u. Forstwissenschaft in Deutschland. 3 vols. 

Berlin, 1872-3. A standard work. 
Dankelman. B. Die deutschen Nutzholzzolle. Eine Wald- 

schutzschrift. Berlin, 1883. 
Ebermayer. Die physikalischen Einwirkungen des Waldes 

aufLuft, etc. Aschaffenburg, 1873. The first attempt of 

a scientific discussion of forest influences on the basis of 

extensive experimental data. 
v. Fischbach, C. Lehrbuch der Forstwissenschaft. Berlin, 

1886. The best brief treatment of the technicalities. 
Hagen-Donner. Die forstlichen Verhaltnisse Preussens. 2 

vols. 3d ed. Berlin, 1894. An excellent, complete 

statistical and economic account of the Prussian forest 

administration. 
Henko, K. H. Beitrage zur Statistik der Forsten des euro- 

paischen Russlands. Petersburg, 1888. Translated by 

Guse. Berlin, 1889. 
Lehr, J. Beitrage zur Statistik der Preise, besonders des 

Geldes und Holzes. Frankfurt, 1885. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 495 

Lehr, J. Die deutschen Holzzolle und deren Erhohung. 
Frankfurt, 1883. Economic arguments for retention and 
abolition of tariff on wood imports by two good authori- 
ties. 

v. Lbffelholz-Colberg, F. Chrestomatie : Die Bedeutung und 
Wichtigkeit des Waldes, etc. Leipzig, 1872. Interest- 
ing compilation of references and quotations from authors 
of all countries regarding the question of forest in- 
fluences. 

Lorentz Liburnau. Wald, Klima und Wasser. Munchen, 
1878. The best popular discussion of forest influences 
by the most prominent scientific investigator of the 
subject. 

Lorey, T. Editor. Handbuch der Forstwissenschaft, 3 vols. 
Tubingen, 1887. The best encyclopaedic professional 
handbook. 

Mayr, H. Die Waldungen von Nordamerika. Munchen, 
1894. A good compilation, upon the basis of personal 
visits, on forest flora and forest conditions of the United 
States. 

Rentzsch. Der Wald im Haushalte der Natur und der Volks- 
wirthschaft. Leipzig, 1862. 

Schindler. Die Forste Oesterreichs. 

Schwappach, A. Handbuch der Forst- und Jagdgeschichte 
Deutschlands. Berlin, 1883 and 1892. 

Schwappach, A. Forstpolitik, Jagd- und Fischereipolitik. 
Leipzig, 1894. 

v. Seckendorff. Die forstlichen Verhaltnisse Frankreichs. 
Leipzig, 1880. 

v. Seckendorff. Uber die wirthschaftliche Bedeutung der 
Wildbachverbauung und Aufforstung der Gebirge. Wien, 
1883. 

Weber, R. Der Wald im Haushalte der Natur und des 
Menschen. Berlin, 1875. 

Woeickof. Die Klimen der Erde. Jena, 1887. Brings many 
data on the influence of forests on climate. 



496 APPENDIX. 

Allgemeine Forst u. Jagdzeitung (since 1825). Frankfurt a. M. 
Zeitschrift fur Forst- und Jagdwesen. Berlin. Since 1869. 

The two oldest and best German forestry journals. 
Beitrage zur Forststatistik des deutschen Reichs. Berlin, 

1884. 

French. 

Annuaire des eaux et forets. Paris. (For statistical informa- 
tion.) 

P. de Boixo. Les forets et le reboisement dans les Pyre'ne'es 
orientales. Paris, 1894. 

J. Clave. Etudes sur l'dconomie forestiere. Paris, 1862. 

M. Demontzey. Reboisement et Gazonnement des montagnes. 
2d ed. Paris, 1882. 

C. Grandjean. Les landes et les dunes de Gascogne. Paris, 
1896. 

A. Maury. Les forets de la Gaule. Paris, 1867. 

A. Noel. Etudes forestieres. Note sur la statistique forestiere. 

Paris, 1884. 
Puton et Guyot. Code forestier. Paris, 1900. 
Revue des eaux et forets. Paris. (The forestry journal of 

France.) 

Italian. 

Bertagnoli. I Boschi e la nostra Politica forestale. Bologna, 
1889. 
Statistica forestale. Firenze, 1870. 

English. 

John Croumbie Brown. 16 volumes on forests and forestry 
conditions in various countries. Edinburgh and London, 
1875-1887. 

B. H. Baden-Powell. Forest law. London, 1894. 

B. Ribbentrop. Forestry in British India. Calcutta, 1900. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 497 

Wm. Schlich. Manual of Forestry. 5 vols. 2d ed. Lon- 
don, 1896. 

Vol. I contains chapters on the direct and indirect utility of 
forests, the state in relation to forestry, and forestry in Britain 
and India. 

Journal of Forestry and Estates Management. 1 1 vols. Lon- 
don, 1 877-1 885. 

American. 

No single book treats of the subject of economics of forestry 
professionally, but the journal literature, proceedings of asso- 
ciations, and official reports are discussing many phases of it. 

Among these should first of all be mentioned the various 
Government Reports : — 

Reports of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Govern- 
ment Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 

The first comprehensive discussion, containing a large 
amount of information on the conditions then prevailing and 
the prospects, are two long articles, namely, one published in 
the report for i860, — 

"The forests and trees of northern America as connected 
with climate and agriculture, 11 by J. G. Cooper, 

and the other, published in 1865, — 

"American forests, their destruction and preservation," by 
Rev. Frederic Starr. 

The following is a complete reference list to forestry sub- 
jects in the reports of the Department of Agriculture from 
the years i860 to 1886 : — 

Forest acreage in farms by states, 1875, 2 47* 
and farm areas by states, 1884, 490. 
area of United States by states, 1885, 186. 
cultivation, general remarks, 185 1, 53. 
on the Great Plains, article, 1872, 316. 
2 K 



498 APPENDIX. 

Forest, culture, circular asking information, 1858, 75. 

experiment, 1875, 336. 

historical review, 1870, 226. 

laws for encouragement, 1870, 234. 

profits, 1870, 232. 
destruction in the northwest, notes, 1872, 443. 
fires, remarks, 1883, 457. 
products, distribution of exports, 1872, 59. 

extent and value, 1883, 450. 
resources, Brewer's analysis, 1875, 352. 
schools, general remarks, 1883, 459. 
trees, culture and management, 1864, 43 ; 1872, 161. 

evergreen, in northern New England, report on causes of 
destruction, 1883, 138; 1884,374; 1885,319. 

methods of planting, 1864, 45 ; 1870, 228. 

of United States, Centennial collection, 1875, I 5 I » 

sowing seeds and raising young plants, 1878, 203. 

transplanting, remarks, 1878, 204. 
report, 1850, 455. 
warnings from history, 1865, 225. 
Forests, American, destruction and preservation, 1865, 210. 

evils of past destruction, 1865, 210. 
and timber, statistical information, 1868, 447. 
as connected with climate and agriculture, remarks, i860, 

416. 
climatic influence, 1883,453; 1885, 196; 1886, 152. 
distribution in United States, 1885, 188. 
increase or decrease, general remarks, 1885, I 9°* 
influence on health, i860, 443. 

soil, i860, 441. 

streams and droughts, 1885, 192. 
notes on rapid destruction, 1884, 154. 
of United States by states, notes and statistics, 1875, 

249 fF. 
Forestry, experiment stations, remarks, 1883, 158. 
historical sketch of Arbor Day, 1886, 181. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 499 

Forestry, in schools, remarks, 1883, 458. 
investigation, outline of system, 1887, 614. 

progress, article, 1880, 653. 
list of publications, 1886, 226. 
literature, remarks, 1886, 183. 

of the Western states and territories, article, 1878, 515. 
state encouragement, 1875,334. 
statistics, article, 1875, 244. 
by states, 1884, 137. 

In the reports after the year 1886 to 1893 the following 
articles, mostly prepared by the writer, bear on the subject of 
this volume : — 

Report for 1886 — 

Forestry problems of the United States. 

General principles of forestry. 
List of ninety most important timber trees of the United 

States. 
Report for 1887. (Special, not printed in report of Depart- 
ment of Agriculture) — 

Trade notes and tariff on lumber — mill capacity of United 
States. 

Systematic plan of forestry work. 

Conditions of forestry interests in the states. 
Report for 1888 — 

Forest influences. 

Cultural and trade notes. 
Report for 1889 — 

Seedling distribution. 

Timber-culture acts. 

Influence of forests on water supplies. 
Report for 1 890 — 

Wood pulp industry. 

Forestry education. 

Artificial rainfall. 



500 APPENDIX. 

Report for 1891 — 

Forest planting experiments in Nebraska. 

Southern lumber pines. 

Forest reservations and their management. 
Report for 1 892 — 

Forest conditions of the United States and the forestry 
movement. 

Forest fire legislation. 

The naval store industry. 
Report for 1893 — 

Consumption and supply of forest products in the United 
States. 

German forest management. 

In the Year-book of the Department, published since 1894, 
the following articles appear : — 

Year-book for 1894 — 

Forestry for farmers. 
Year-book for 1895 — 

The relation of forest to farm. 

Tree planting on western plains. 
Year-book for 1896 — 

Tree planting in waste places on farms. 

The uses of wood. 
Year-book for 1897 — 

The work of the Division of Forestry in relation to the 
farmer. 
Year-book for 1898 — 

Notes on some forest problems. 
Year-book for 1899 — 

Progress of forestry in the United States. 

Practice of forestry by private owners. 
Year-book for 1 900 — 

Forest extension in middle west. 

Practical forestry in southern Appalachians. 

List of forestry associations. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 501 

List of schools of forestry. 
Progress in forestry. 
Year-book for 1901 — 
Timber resources of Nebraska. 
Grazing in forest reserves. 
Progress in forestry. 

Besides these annual publications the following separate 
Reports on Forestry have been published by the Department, 
containing a large amount of information on various forestry 
subjects. 

Vol. I. Report upon Forestry, prepared under the direction 
of the Commissioner of Agriculture, in pursuance of an act of 
Congress approved August 15, 1876. By Franklin B. Hough. 
Pp. 650. Index. 1878. 

Vol. II. Report upon Forestry, prepared under the direc- 
tion of the Commissioner of Agriculture, in pursuance of an 
act of Congress approved August 15, 1876. By Franklin B. 
Hough. Pp. 618. Index. 1880. 

Vol. III. Report upon Forestry, prepared under the direc- 
tion of the Commissioner of Agriculture, in pursuance of an 
act of Congress approved August 15, 1876. By Franklin B. 
Hough. Pp. 318. Index. 1882. 

Vol. IV. Report upon Forestry, prepared by N. H. Eggle- 
ston. Pp.421. Index. 1 map. 1884. 

The following Bulletins of the Division of Forestry, De- 
partment of Agriculture, refer more or less directly to the sub- 
ject of this volume. 

No. 1. Report on the Relation of Railroads to Forest 
Supplies and Forestry, together with appendices on the struc- 
ture of some timber ties, the behavior, and the cause of their 
decay in the roadbed, on wood preservation, on metal ties, and 
on the use of spark arresters. Pp.149. Pis. 7, figs. 7. 1887. 

No. 2. Report on the Forest Conditions of the Rocky 
Mountains, with a map showing the location of forest areas 
on the Rocky Mountain range, and other papers. Pp. 252. 
Map 1, diagr. 1. ii 



502 APPENDIX. 

No. 5. What is Forestry ? By B. E. Fernow, Chief of 
Division of Forestry. Pp.52. 1891. 

No. 7. Forest Influences. Pp. 197. Figs. 63. 1893. 

1. Introduction and summary of conclusions, by B. E. Fernow. 
2. Review of forest meteorological observations, a study preliminary to 
the discussion of the relations of forest to climate, by M. W. Harring- 
ton. 3. Relation of forests to water supplies, by B. E. Fernow. 4. Notes 
on the sanitary significance of forests, by B. E. Fernow. Appendices: 
1. Determination of the true amount of precipitation, and its bearing on 
theories of forest influences, by Cleveland Abbe. 2. Analysis of rain- 
fall with relation to surface conditions, by George E. Curtis. 

No. 9. Report on the Use of Metal Railroad Ties, and on 
Preservation Processes and Metal Tie-plates for Wooden Ties. 
By E. E. Russell Tratman, A. M., Am. Soc. C. E. (supple- 
mentary to Report on the Substitution of Metal for Wood in 
Railroad Ties, 1890). Prepared under the direction of B. E. 
Fernow, Chief of Division of Forestry. Pp.363. Pis. 5. 1894. 

No. 13. The Timber Pines of the Southern United States. 
By Chas. Mohr, Ph.D. Together with a Discussion of the 
Structure of their Wood, by Filibert Roth. Prepared under 
the direction of B. E. Fernow, Chief of Division of Forestry. 
Pp. 160. Pis. 27, figs. 18. 1896. 

No. 16. Forestry Conditions and Interests of Wisconsin. 
By Filibert Roth. With a Discussion of Objects and Meth- 
ods of ascertaining Forest Statistics, etc. By B. E. Fernow. 
Pp. 76. 1898. 

No. 21. Systematic Plant Introduction. By David A. 
Fairchild. Pp. 24. 1898. 

No. 22. The White Pine. By V. M. Spalding and B. E. 
Fernow. Pp. 185. 1899. 

No. 25. Notes on Forest Conditions of Puerto Rico. By 
Robert T. Hill. Pp. 48. 1899. 

No. 26. Practical Forestry in the Adirondacks. By Henry 
S. Graves. Pp. 85. 1899. 

No. 34. A History of the Lumber Industry in the State of 
New York. By William F. Fox. 1902. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 503 

Miscellaneous Publications prepared by Agents of the De- 
partment of Agriculture. — Catalogue of the forest trees of the 
United States which usually attain a height of 16 feet or 
more, with notes and brief descriptions of the more important 
species. Pp. 38. 1876. 

Preliminary report on the forestry of the Mississippi Valley 
and tree planting on the Plains. By F. P. Baker and R. W. 
Furnas. Pp. 45. 1883. 

Arbor Day, its history and observance. By N. H. Egles- 
ton. Pp. 80. Figs. 12. 1896. 

Miscellaneous Special Report No. 5. The proper value and 
management of government timber lands and the distribution 
of North American forest trees, being papers read at the 
United States Department of Agriculture, May 7 and 8, 1884. 
Pp. 47. 1884. 

Miscellaneous Report No. 10. A descriptive catalogue of 
manufactures from native woods, as shown in the exhibit of 
the United States Department of Agriculture at the World's 
Industrial and Cotton Exposition at New Orleans, La. By 
Charles Richards Dodge. Pp. 81. 1886. 

Forestry in the United States. By B. E. Fernow. Report 
of United States commissioners to the Universal Exposition 
of 1889 at Paris. Vol. V, pp. 747-777. Pis. 6. 1891. 

Statements before Congressional Committees and in answer 
to Senate Resolutions. — Public timber lands, report of E. A. 
Bowers relative to desirable legislation. Ex. Doc, No. 242, 
Fiftieth Congress, first session. Pp. 24. 1888. 

Statement on the relation of irrigation problems to forest 
conditions, by B. E. Fernow, before Special Senate Committee 
on Irrigation and Reclamation of Arid Lands. Fifty-first 
Congress, first session. Senate Report No. 928, Vol. 4, pp. 
1 15-124. 1890. 

Statements in Report No. 1002, Fifty-second Congress, first 
session. (To accompany S. 3235) "to provide for the estab- 
lishment, protection, and administration of public forest reser- 
vations, and for other purposes." Pp. 12. 1892. 



504 APPENDIX. 

Senate Document No. 172, Fifty-third Congress, second 
session. Letter from the Secretary of Agriculture . . . trans- 
mitting information in relation to investigations and experi- 
ments in the planting of native pine seed in the sand hills of 
the Northwest. Pp. 14. 8vo. 1894. 

Statements in House Report No. 1442, Fifty-third Con- 
gress, second session. Investigations and Tests of American 
Timbers. Pp. 4. 1894. 

Statements in House Report No. 497. Public Forest 
Reservations. Pp. 23. 1894. 

Statement of B. E. Fernow, Chief of Forestry Division, to 
the Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives [in 
support of H. R. 8389 and H. R. 8390, providing for forestry 
schools], February 16, 1895. Pp. 4. 

Senate Document No. 40, Fifty-fifth Congress, first session, 
White Pine Timber Supplies. Statement prepared by the 
Chief of the Division. Letter of the Secretary of Agriculture. 
Pp. 21. 1897. 

Senate Document No. 105, Fifty-fifth Congress, first session. 
Report of a committee of the National Academy of Sciences 
on forest policy for the forested lands of the United States, 
Pp. 49. 1897. 

Report upon Forestry Investigation of the U.S. Department 
of Agriculture, 1 877-1 898, by B. E. Fernow. H. R. Doc. 
No. 181, 55th Congress, 3d session, 1899. 4 QI PP- 4 to - 

Message from the President of the United States trans- 
mitting a report of the Secretary of Agriculture in relation to 
the forests, rivers, and mountains of the southern Appalachian 
region. Washington, D.C. Pp. 210. 1902. 

Reports of the U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C. — 
Sixteenth Report, 1 894-1 895, Part II, The public lands and 
their water supply. By F. H. Newell. Pp. 463-532. 

Nineteenth Report, 1898, part V, Forest Reserves. 

Twentieth Report, 1900, Part V, Forest Reserves, gives 
detailed report on a number of reserves, also articles on forest 
conditions and standing timber of Washington and forests of 
the United States by H. Gannett. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 505 

Reports of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 

Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., give statistical 
and administrative information regarding the management of 
public timber lands and forest reserves, also Forest Reserve 
Manual for the information and use of forest officers, 1902. 
Pp. 90. 

Reports of Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department, 
Washington, D.C., gives statistics of exports and imports, 
monthly, quarterly, and annually, prepares annually Statistical 
Abstract of the United States, and also issues in the Monthly 
Summary of Commerce and Finance valuable special reports, 
among which, The Lumber Trade of the United States, 1900, 
pp. 1081-1169. 

Reports of Department of State, Washington, D.C. — Con- 
sular Reports contain references to forestry, and forest condi- 
tions in foreign lands. 

Forestry in Europe, a special publication brings details of 
reports from the consuls of the United States, 1887, also 
Forest Culture in Sweden, by C. C. Andrews, 1872. Pp. 48. 

Census of i860, 1870, 1880, 1890, 1900, Washington, D.C, 
give statistics of lumber industry. As a result of the 9th 
Census an article on The Woodland and Forest Systems of the 
United States, with a map showing forest distribution, by Prof. 
F. W. Brewer, was published in the Statistical Atlas of the 
United States, 1874. 

Vol. IX of the 10th Census (1880), pp. 612, is the first com- 
prehensive statement on forest conditions : Report on the 
forests of North America, by Chas. S. Sargent, 1884. 

Vol. IX, Part III, of the 12th Census (1900), " Selected 
Industries," contains an extensive compilation of the statistics 
of the lumber and other forest industries on 122 pages. 

Smithsonian Institute Report, 1 869 : Forests and their 
climatic influence, by A. C. Becquerel, translated from the 
French. 

Reports of State Commissions. — California State Board of 
Forestry, 3 reports, 1 885-1 890. 



506 APPENDIX. 

Colorado Forest Commissioner, 3 reports, 1885 -1890. 
Kansas State Horticultural Society reports on forestry since 

1879- 

Maine Forest Commissioner, annual reports since 1891. 

Michigan Forestry Commission reports, 1 887-1 888, 1900- 
1901. 

Minnesota Chief Fire Warden, annual reports since 1895. 

New Jersey Geological Survey reports on forestry since 
1880. 

New Hampshire Forestry Commission, annual reports since 
1893. 

New York Forest Commission (now Forest, Fish, and 
Game Commission), annual reports since 1886; Forest Pre- 
serve Board since 1897. 

New York State College of Forestry, annual reports of the 
director since 1899. 

North Carolina Geological Survey, Bulletin 5, 6, and 7. 

Ohio State Forestry Bureau, five annual reports since 1886. 

Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Division of For- 
estry, annual reports since 1895. 

Canada. — Report of the forest wealth of Canada by the 
statistician of the Department of Agriculture, pp. 339. Ottawa, 
1895. 

Report of the Chief Inspector of Timber and Forestry, 
annual since 1899. 

Ontario Bureau of Forestry, annual reports since 1891. 

Association Reports. — Proceedings of the American For- 
estry Association, 1 883-1 897, Vols. I-XII. 

American Economic Association, Vol. VI, No. 3, 101 pp., 
contains several papers on forestry subjects. 

Canadian Forestry Association, reports since 1900. 

Journals. — The American Journal of Forestry, edited by 
F. B. Hough, 1 vol. 1882-1883. 

Garden and Forest, by C. S. Sargent, Vols. I-X. 1 888-1 897. 

The Forester (now Forestry and Irrigation), Vols. I— VIII, 
1895. (Originally published by John Gifford, then by the 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 507 

American Forestry Association, now by H. M. Suter.) Wash- 
ington, D.C. 

Forest Leaves, published by Pennsylvania Forestry Asso- 
ciation since 1892. 

Water and Forest, a quarterly, by California Water and 
Forest Association since 1900. 

Forestry Quarterly (the first professional journal), published 
by students and faculty of New York State College of For- 
estry. 1902. 

Books of Interest in Connection with the Subject. — George 
P. Marsh, The Earth as Modified by Man, Chapters on The 
Woods and the Waters. 1877. 

Popular Elementary Treatises (a few of the many). — E. 
Bruncken, North American Forests and Forestry, pp. 265. 
New York, 1900. 

J. GifFord, Practical Forestry, pp. 284. New York, 1902. 

F. B. Hough, The Elements of Forestry. Cincinnati, 1882. 

F. Roth, First Book of Forestry, pp. 291. Boston, 1902. 



INDEX. 



Abbe, C, quoted, 432-433. 

Absolute forest soils, 122, 243. 

Acclimatization, 144, 460. 

Accretion, rate of, 108-109 ; laws 
of, 152-164; normal, 201-203, 
206-208; maximum, 211-212. 

Adirondack Preserve, 86, 387, 390. 

Administration, forest. See Policy, 
forest. 

Afforesting, defined, 83. 

Africa, forestry in, 290. 

Age of timber trees, 41, 43, 107, 
355; in relation to growth, 153- 
154 ; classification by, 128-129, 
201-204; felling, 208-211, 226. 

Agriculture, 17-18; use of wood in, 
24; compared with forestry, 32, 
106, 110-126, 240-241, 243, 334, 
456, 464. 

Air, temperature and humidity of, 
69-70, 435-439 ; as food-provider, 
120. 

Alaska, forests in, 333; reserva- 
tions in, 410. 

Alcohol, wood, 30, 190, 429. 

Algeria, deforestation of, 12. 

Allotment method of regulating 
fellings, 204. 

Almirante, Admiral, 59. 

Altitude, relation of, to species, 142. 

American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science, 377. 

American Forestry Association, 
382-383, 400-405. 

American Lumberman, quoted, 479- 
480. 

Ancus Martius, forest regulations 
of, 91. 



Animals, as forest destroyers, 55, 
184-185. 

Apennines, deforestation of, 58-59. 

Arbor day, 92, 297, 379. 

Area, forest, statistics of, 35-36, 54, 
430-431 ; necessary size of, 115- 
116, 132-133, 451 ; in Germany, 
316; in the U.S., 334-339. 47*~ 
475- 

Aristotle, quoted, 58. 

Asia, Western, deforestation of, 12. 

Assessment of forest property, 250- 

253- 

Associations, forestry, 241-242, 316, 
370, 381-383, 391,401,471 ; sport- 
ing, 346. 

Atlantic forests, 331-332, 350-351, 

474- 

Australia, forestry in, 289-290. 

Austria, wood production in, 47; 
experiments in, 64, 443 ; exploita- 
tion in, 257 ; forest policy of, 271, 
294-295. 

Bacilli, 78, 447. 

Bacteria, 120. 

Baden, forest policy of, 322-323. 

Bamboo, 192, 282. 

Bark, use of, in tanning, 28, 86,424. 

Bavaria, meteorological observa- 
tions in, 63; forest fires in, 137, 
190/2.-191; insect pests in, 137, 
185 n. ; forest policy of, 320-321 ; 
wood prices in, 457. 

Becquerel, 61, 63. 

Beluchistan, forests in, 286. 

Berea College, Kentucky, forestry 
instruction at, 238, 400. 



5°9 



5io 



INDEX. 



Bibliography, 491-507. 

Billmore, N.C., school at, 238, 399. 

Bitterroot Reserve, 360. 

Black Hills, 359. 

Bole, growth of, 90, 118-119, 150, 
154-156, 180-181. 

Bookkeeping, in forestry, 226-227. 

Bosnia-Herzegovina, forest policy 
of, 294. 

Boston, park system of, 385. 

Botany, relation of, to forestry, 100- 
101. 

Bounties, 244-245, 248-249, 268, 378. 

Boussingault, 61. 

Brandis, Sir Dietrich, 279. 

Brazil, importation of wood by, 34. 

Brush wood, 155, 335. 

Budget, felling, 128, 201-222, 226. 

Buffon, quoted, 60. 

Building construction, use of wood 
in, 26-27. 

Bureau of Forestry, U.S. See 
United States Bureau of For- 
estry. 

Burma, forests of, 281 ; teak in, 285. 

Business, forestry as a. See Econo- 
my, forest. 

By-products, forest, 28-31, 424-425. 

California, forests of, 361-363; 

forest legislation in, 397-398. 
Campagna Romana, 77-78. 
Canada, exportation of wood by, 

37, 253, 258, 468 ; wood prices in, 

458-459; forestry movement in, 

467-471. 
Capacity of forests, 42-46. 
Cape Colony, forest policy of, 290. 
Capital invested in forestry, 125- 

139,230; in the U.S.,.32-33, 373, 

485 ; in Germany, 50. 
Carbohydrates, 119. 
Carbonic acid, in forests, 77. 
Carpenter, L. G., 447. 
Cascade Range, forests of, 333, 360- 

362. 



Cellulose, 25, 27, 421. 
Census reports, 376, 422, 471-480. 
Charcoal industry, 178, 190. 
Charlemagne, forest regulations of, 

300. 
Chase, laws of the, 9, 82-83, 2 ^8, 

302-304. 
Chemical changes in wood, 108. 
Chlorophyll, 147. 
Cicero, quoted, 58. 
Civilization, relation of, to forestry, 

19, 21-31. 
Clearing system, 45, 171-173. 
Cleveland, President, 403-404. 
Climatic conditions, relation of, to 

forestry, 11-14, 17-18, 54-55. 59~ 

71, 90, 101-102, 117-118. 141-146, 

156, 229, 298-299, 439-444; in 

India, 280-281 ; in the U.S., 334, 

368. 
Coal, exhaustion of, 8-9, 11; as 

fuel, 27, 421. 
Coast Range, forests of, 333, 361- 

362. 
Code for estier, 217. 
Colbert, forest ordinance of, 60. 
Colleges of forestry, in the U.S., 

238, 390-39I. 399-400. 
Colorado, constitutional provisions 

of, 395 ; forest legislation in, 396- 

397 ; irrigation in, 447. 
Columbus, Christopher, 60. 
Commissions, forestry, 384 ; in New 

York State, 387-388. 
Communal ownership, 269-273 ; in 

Germany, 264, 301-307, 310- 

3". 

Competition, destructive tendency 
of, 2, 8, 255-258, 359. 

Conditions, forest, defined, 85, 87- 
90. 

Conifers, value of, 34 ; in the U.S., 
40-41, 348, 350-362, 481-484, 486 ; 
growth rate of, 108-109 '< transpi- 
ration of, 121 ; sprouting of, 177, 
464. 



INDEX. 



511 



Connecticut, forest legislation in, 

394- 
Consumption of wood, in the U.S., 

25. 5i. 337-339. 47S-48o; statis- 
tics of, 36-41, 416-429. 

Cooper, J. G.,375. 

Cooperation in forestry, 263, 266, 
268, 312, 380. 

Cooper's Hill, England, forestry 
school at, 289. 

Coppice, 129-131, 177-179, 356, 

45L 464. 

Cornell University, College of For- 
estry at, 238, 390-391, 399-400. 

Corporation forests, in Germany, 
317, 322-323. 

Cover, forest, value of, 68-76, 228, 

265, 347. 444- 

Crop, forest, when ripe, 102, 106- 
110; comparison of, with agricul- 
tural crop, 111-127; taxation of, 
250-251. 

Crown, growth of, 147-150, 154- 
155; importance of, 158; tem- 
perature of, 436. 

Crown Timber Act, 468. 

Culling, 44, 95, 127-128, 167-168, 
173-174, 189, 195-196, 337, 343- 

345. 357- 
Cuttings, improvement, 169-170. 
Cypress, Bald, 356. 

Debris, 188-190. 

Deforestation, effects of, 12-13, 58- 

6 3. 93-95. 265-267; in Italy, 91, 

296; in Germany, 256, 313, 329; 

in France, 276-277 ; in the U.S., 

367-368. 
Dehra Dun, forestry school at, 

289. 
Dendrology, 100-101. 
Deserts, 12, 55. 
Deterioration of forests, 20, 45-46, 

168, 178, 229; in the U.S., 335, 

479-480, 481. 
Diameter, growth in, 154; limit of, 



in cutting, 196, 209-211, 217-221, 

352-353. 
Disafforesting, defined, 83. 
Distillation of wood, 30. 
Distribution, of forests, 35, 331-337, 

431, 474; of species, 141-149. 
Districting, forest, 222-226. 
Drainage, influence of forests on, 

19-20, 72-75, 77-78, 444-447. 
Dunes, sand, in France, 77, 277 ; in 

Russia, 292; in the U.S., 368. 
Duties, protective, 245, 253-258. 

Ebermayer, Dr. E., 63, 432. 

Economic questions, relative im- 
portance of, 7-8. 

Economy, of resources, 6-9, 415; 
forest, 96-97, ioo, 102-103, x 97~ 
227 ; in wood consumption, 339, 

355. 
Education, forestry, 236-244; in 
France, 277; in India, 289; in 
Russia, 293; in Germany, 315- 
316; in Japan, 330; in the U.S., 

390-39I. 399-401. 
Egypt, forest policy of, 290. 
Eminent domain, 16, 269-273, 415- 

416. 
England, royal forests in, 83 ; forest 

conditions in, 278. 
Erichthonios, legend of, 58. 
Erosion, relation of forests to, 12, 

19. 75-76, 367. 445- 

Ethics, influence of forests on, 66. 

Eucalyptus, 77, 289-290. 

Europe, deforestation of, 12; pa- 
ternalism in, 245 ; forest policy 
in, 274-278, 291-329 ; forestry 
education in, 277, 293, 315-316. 

Evaporation, 70, 437-438, 444. 

Exeter, N.H., forest legislation of, 

369. 
Exotics, 460. 
Experiment stations, 240-241 ; in 

Europe, 64, 316; in the U.S., 

394-395. 397- 



512 



INDEX. 



Exploitation of forests, 2-3, 11-12, 
19, 44-46, 90, 95, 127-128, 167- 
168, 195, 199, 228-230, 329, 343- 
345; effect of tariff on, 253-255, 
258; in the U.S., 366-367, 371- 
376 ; in Canada, 468-469. 

Exportation of wood, 37-40, 458- 
459, 468, 480-481. 

Expropriation of forests for state 
purposes, 270-273. 

Famine, wood, in the U.S., 369- 
37i. 374-376; in Germany, 487- 
489. 

Felling age, 208-211, 226. 

Felling budget, 128, 201-222, 226. 

Felling series, 223-226. 

Fertility of soil, improved by for- 
ests, 120. 

Finance, forest, 213-222, 452-459; 
in Germany, 324-328 ; in the 
U.S., 480-481. 

Fires, forest, 29, 133-134, 137, 168, 
186-191, 229, 344, 360, 365-367; 
protection against, 191-196, 259- 
263, 283-284, 398-399, 467, 469- 
470. 

Fisheries, 9, n-12. 

Floods, relation of forests to, 61, 
73-75. 276-277, 318-319, 368, 445- 
446. 

Floor, forest, 72-73, 76, 444-446. 

Florida, frost in, 70. 

Foliage in relation to wood pro- 
duction, 152, 155, 157, 179-180. 

Forest, history of word, 81-84, 448- 
450; functions of, 85-87, 228; 
normal, 128-129, 201-202. 

Forest Leaves, 383. 

Forest Wealth in Canada, 458. 

Forester, defined, 97-98, 448-449. 

Forester, The, 383. 

Forestry, history of, 91-94 ; defined, 
95-97. 449 1 classification of, 103- 
105. 

Forestry Quarterly, 400. 



Forests, classes of, 87, 271-272; 
state, in France, 275; in India, 
280, 288; in Russia, 292; in 
Roumania, 294; in Bosnia-Her- 
zegovina, 294 ; in Austria, 295 ; 
in Italy, 296; in Germany, 306, 
310; in the U.S., {federal) 340- 
342, 401-41 1, {separate states) 
342, 386-391, 395, 397-398 ; reve- 
nue from, 452-459. 

Formula method of regulating fell- 
ings, 204-205. 

Fox, W. T., quoted, 369. 

France, deforestation of, 12-13, 60- 
62, 70 ; state control of mines in, 
16; sand-dunes in, 77, 277; for- 
est policy of, 270, 275-277; im- 
portation of wood by, 417. 

Franco-German war, effect of, on 
forestry, 329, 453. 

French Revolution, effect of, on 
forestry, 60-61, 93-94, 275, 306. 

Frost, 142 ; in Florida, 70. 

Fuel, wood as, 22-23, 2 7> 2 74> 2 % 2 > 
420-421. 

Future interests, safeguarded by 
state, 5-10, 15-16, 230-231. 

Game, protection of, 9, 82-83. 

•Gannett, statistics compiled by, 339, 
363, 483-485- 

Gauges, rain, 64, 432-434, 438-439. 

Geographical distribution, of spe- 
cies, 141-143 ; of forests, in the 

U.S., 331-333. 474-475- 

Geology, relation of, to forestry, 101. 

Germany, consumption of wood in, 
27, 37-40, 418-419 ; forest policy 
in, 47-50, 91-93, 300-329 ; forestry 
terminology in, 84; agriculture 
and forestry in, 112-114, 122,450; 
forest revenues in, 132-135, 452- 
456; spruce growth in, 160; 
methods of regulating fellings in, 
173-174; rides in, 193, 222; dis- 
tricts in, 222; forestry schools in, 



INDEX. 



513 



237-238, 315, 488 ; tariff legisla- 
tion in, 256-258 ; classification of 
forests in, 306-307,309,313-314; 
paper pulp industry in, 423-424; 
acclimatization in, 460; wood 
production in, 462-464 ; taxation 
in, 465-467; wood famine in, 
487-489. 

Gerwig, R., quoted, 72-73. 

Gironde, sand-dunes in the, 277. 

GladbacherFire Insurance Co., 467. 

Government. See State. 

Grazing in forests, 73, 92, 284-285. 

Great Britain, importation of wood 
by, 37. 416-417. 

Greece, sterility of, 59. 

Group method of reproduction, 
174. 

Groves, consecrated, 57. 

Growth of trees, 106-109, 146-156. 

Hardwoods, 34; rate of growth 
of, 108-109; coppice reproduc- 
tion of, 177 ; in India, 282 ; in the 

U.S., 348-3SL 356. 482-487. 

Harrison, President, 403. 

Harvest, time of, 106-1 10, 208-211, 
217-219 ; cost of, 125-126. 

Harz Mountains, forestry school in 
the, 237. 

Hemlock, use of, in tanning, 28, 
424 ; in paper making, 423. 

Herodotus, quoted, 59. 

Herzegovina. See Bosnia-Herze- 
govina. 

Hesse, taxation in, 466. 

Hodges, L. B., 382. 

Homer, quoted, 57-58. 

Hough, F. B., 424, 432. 

Huckleberry industry, 30-31. 

Humboldt, A. von, quoted, 62. 

Humidity, 71, 142, 437~444- 

Hungary, forest policy of, 295; 
acclimatization in, 460. 

Hunting, 9, 82-83, 2 88, 302-304. 

Hygroscopic water, 121. 
2L 



Idaho, forests of, 359-360. 
Importation of wood, 37-40; duty 

on, 253-258 ; by England, 278 ; 

by the U.S., 481. 
Improvement, internal, 267. 
Improvement cuttings, 169-170. 
Incendiarism, 262, 299. 
Income tax, in Germany, 465-467. 
India, forest administration in, 114- 

115, 217, 278-289; forest fires in, 

192-193. 
Indiana, forest legislation in, 246, 

394- 
Industries, forest, 27-32, 421-429, 

487. 
Insects, injury from, 133, 137, 146, 

282; protection against, 184-185, 

263. 
Insurance, forest fire, 263, 467. 
Intensive methods, 8, 13, 18, 46-47, 

113-115, 452. 
Interest on forestry capital, 131- 

139, 213-215 ; in Germany, 50. 
Internal improvement, 267. 
International Forestry Congress, 

35- 
Investment, forestry as an, 50, 131- 

139, 213-215, 345-346. 
Irrigation, 75; in the West, U.S., 

342, 447, 487. 
Italy, forest laws in, 58-59, 270, 

296-297 ; deforestation of, 91. 

Jamaica, 59. 

Japan, forest policy of, 329-330. 

Jentsch, Dr. F., 456. 

Journals, forestry, 316, 383, 400. 

Jungles, in India, 282-284. 

Kansas, experiment stations in, 

394-395- 
King, F. W., 440. 
Knots, 90, 107, 180. 

Labor, required in forestry, 3, 50, 
111-117, 274, 45°-45 I - 



5i4 



INDEX. 



Lake region, U.S., pine supply in, 
350, 478-479- 

Land, as a resource, 10-11. 

Land-owners, lumbering methods 
of, 342, 345-346. 

Lapland, forest conditions in, 299. 

Latitude, relation of, to species, 
141-142. 

Law, property, 4, 20; forest, in 
Italy, 58-59, 296-297; in Scot- 
land, 8372. ; intheU.S., {federal} 
247-248, 378-379. 4 OI -4". {^Pi- 
rate states) 246-247, 369-371, 
377-378.384-399; in France, 276- 
277; in India, 288; in Russia, 
291-293; in Roumania, 294; in 
Austria- Hungary, 295; in Swit- 
zerland, 297 ; in Sweden, 299 ; in 
Germany, 300-305, 312-323; in 
Japan, 330; fire, 259-263, 398- 

399- 
Legislation, forest. See Law. 
Liburnau, Dr. L., 443. 
Light, importance of, 54, 147-158, 

179-183. 
Lightning, fires caused by, 189- 

190 n. 
Literature, forestry, 316, 374-376, 

488-489. 
Litter, 72-73, 120, 451-452 ; burning 

of, 188, 444. 
Loans, state, 268-269. 
Lockwood's Paper Trade Journal, 

quoted, 421-422. 
Locomotives, fires caused by, 189- 

190 n. 
Logging, expense of, 225. 
Lumberman, methods of, 44-46, 53, 

167-169, 173, 195-196, 199. 
Luneburg Heath, 268. 

McGee, J W, quoted, 12. 
McRae bill, 403-405. 
Maine, forest legislation in, 377, 384. 
Malaria, effect of forests on, 77-79, 
447- 



Malthus, 6. 

Manufactures, use of wood in, 33, 
426-429. 

Maple sugar, 29-30. 

Mark system, 91-92, 301-306, 310. 

Marseilles, agricultural society, 
quoted, 61. 

Marsh, G. P., quoted, 7, 376. 

Massachusetts, forest conditions in, 
42, 178 ; forest legislation in, 
385-386. 

Massachusetts Society for the Pro- 
motion of Agriculture, 370. 

" Master schools," in Germany, 237 ; 
at Biltmore, 238, 399. 

Mathematics in forestry, 65, 102- 

103, 152-153- 
Mensuration, forest, 103, 152-153. 
Mercantile theory, 257. 
Mesopotamia, deforestation of, 59. 
Metal, substitution of, for wood, 

23«., 29; production of, in the 

U.S., 32. 
Meteorology, relation of, to for- 
estry, 63-71, 101, 432-444. 
Michigan, wood production in, 372 ; 

forest legislation in, 392. 
Microbes in forests, 78, 447. 
Middle Ages, forests in the, 81-84, 

300-305. 
Mill, J. S., 6. 
Mills, saw, waste in, 41, 419-420; 

influence of, on forestry, 345 ; in 

the U.S., 372-373. 475-477- 
Mines, exhaustion of, 8, 11; state 

control of, 16; timber used in, 

23 ; revenue from, in the U.S., 32. 
Minnesota, forestry association in, 

242; forest legislation in, 242, 

392-393. 398. 
Mirabeau, Marquis of, 60. 
Mississippi, effects of deforestation 

upon, 12. 
Mohr, C, quoted, 355, 485. 
Moisture, relation of, to forests, 55, 

69-71, 142, 183, 437-447- 



INDEX. 



515 



Monsoons, 280. 

Moss-cover, 72-73. 

Mountain districts, best use of, 18, 
122; waste in, 28; waterflow in, 
75-76, 80; forest districts in, 222, 
487. 

Mushroom industry, 31. 

Mythology of forests, 57-58. 

NANCY, forestry school at, 63, 

277- 
Napoleonic Wars, effect of, on 

German forestry, 306. 
National Academy of Sciences, 

U.S., 404. 
Nature element in forestry, 117- 

125. 
Naval store industry, 29, 356, 425. 
Nebraska, Arbor day in, 379. 
New Alexandria, forest institute at, 

293- 

New England, coppice system in, 
178. 

New Hampshire, forest legislation 
of, 370, 384-385- 

New South Wales, forest condi- 
tions in, 289. 

New York State, reservations in, 
342 ; forest legislation in, 369, 
386-391, 398; wood production 
in, 372. 

New York State College of For- 
estry, 238, 390-391, 399-400. 

Newell, F. H., quoted, 340, 342, 487. 

Noble, J. W., 402. 

Normal forest, 128-129, 201-202. 

Normal stock method of felling, 
204-205. 

North America, forest conditions 

in . 331-334- 
North Dakota, forest commissioner 

of. 394- 
Norway, forests of, 298. 
Number of trees in a stand, 181-182 ; 

diminution in, 150-151, 156, 158- 

159- 



Nuremberg, forest-planting in, 92- 

93- 
Nurse trees, 175, 177. 

Oak, use of, in tanning, 28, 424; 
in the U.S., 348-349; reserva- 
tions of, 370-371. 

Oettelt, method of ascertaining fell- 
ing budget, 217. 

Officials, forest, in Prussia, 113 «. ; 
in India, 114, 287; payment of, 
260 ; powers of, 262. 

Ohio, forestry bureau of, 394. 

Olive, cultivation of, in France, 12- 

13. 70. 

Orange groves, in Florida, 70. 

Orchard, distinguished from forest, 
86. 

Oregon, woodland area of, 336 n. ; 
timber supply of, 363. 

Ownership of forests, communal, 
269-273; state, 269-271, 275-276, 
280, 291-293, 295; in Germany, 
264, 301-307, 310-31 1, 317-319, 
321-323; in the U.S., 340-346. 

Oxygen, amount of, in forests, jj. 

Pacific forests, 331-333, 336, 340, 

361-364, 474. 
Palestine, sterility of, 59, 63. 
Paper-pulp industry, 25, 27, 345, 

421-424. 
Parks, public, 385. 
Paternalism, in the U.S., 232, 245- 

249. 
Penn, William, 369. 
Pennsylvania, forest legislation in, 

247, 369, 391 ; state ownership in, 

342. 
Pennsylvania State Forestry Asso- 
ciation, 383. 
Periodicals, forestry, 316, 383, 400. 
Pettenkoffer, 447. 
Philippine Islands, forest policy in, 

411. 
Pine, naval stores from, 29; value 



5 i6 



INDEX. 



of, 40-41 ; exhaustion of, 234 ; in 
the U.S., 347-362. 
Pioneering populations, 2, 53, 94- 

95- 

Plant material, distribution of, 245, 
248, 315, 469. 

Plantation, distinguished from for- 
est, 86. 

Plasmodia, 79. 

Plato, quoted, 58. 

Police, forest, 186,188, 191, 259-260. 

Policy, forest, methods of, 228-273 ; 
in Italy, 91, 296-297; in France, 
275-277; in India, 278-289; in 
Australia, 289-290; in Africa, 
290 ; in Russia, 291-294 ; in Bos- 
nia-Herzegovina, 294; in Rou- 
mania, 294 ; in Austria-Hungary, 
294-295 ; in Switzerland, 297-298 ; 
in Sweden, 298-300 ; in Germany, 
300-329; in Japan, 329-330; in 
the U.S., {federal} 376-379, 401- 
411, {separate stales) 369-374, 
384-400. 

Pomerania, huckleberry industry 
in, 31. 

Prairies in the U.S., 332, 474. 

Precipitation, 69-70, 438-439, 441- 
442. 

Price of wood, statistics of, 134-135, 
138, 456-459 ; stumpage, 220, 420, 
485-486. 

Priest Forest Reserve, 360. 

Private enterprise, waste caused by, 
1-4, 20, 44-46, 228-230, 233-234, 
272-273, 313 ; limitation of, 13- 
16 ; state control of, in Germany, 
314-315; in the U.S., 342~34 6 . 
380-381. 

Products, forest, 28-33; statistics 
of, 123-125; in the U.S., 349- 
350, 426-429. 

Property, individual, 3-4, 20, 264- 
266 ; mediaeval ideas of, 262 ; 
expropriation of, 270-271. 

Protection (in politics) . See Tariff. 



Protection forests, 57, 171, 174, 234- 
2 35- 267-268, 271-273, 347; in 
Germany, 318. 

Prussia, forest production in, 30- 
31,47-48; stations in, 64; forest 
officials in, 113 «.; forest policy 
of, 122 n., 264, 270, 317-320; cost 
of soil in, 126; fires in, 133, 137, 
190 n. -192, 262; wood prices in, 
138, 456-458; state control of 
forests in, 308-309, 312; defores- 
tation in, 313; forestry schools 
in, 315 ; taxation in, 465-467. 

Public lands, U.S., 340-342, 403- 
408. 

Public schools, forestry instruction 
in, 239, 388. 

Pulp, wood, 25, 27, 345, 421-424. 

Railroads, effect of, on exploita- 
tion, 2, 257, 278-279, 372, 374; 
state ownership of, 16 ; use of 
wood for, 23-24; danger of fire 
from, 189 72.-190, 194-195, 262; 
effect of, on wood prices, 458. 

Rain gauges, 64, 432-434, 438-439. 

Rainfall, 64-65 ; effect of forests on, 
69-70, 438-439 ; in India, 281. 

Ramann, experiments of, 446. 

Reforestation, 166-167, 176, 248, 
267-269; in Germany, 92, 309, 
315, 320, 323; in France, 277; in 
Russia, 293-294; in Roumania, 
294; in Austria-Hungary, 295; 
in Italy, 296-297; in Switzerland, 
297 ; in Sweden, 300. 

Regeneration, natural, 167-173 ; 
under nurse trees, 175-177 ; by 
coppice, 177-179. 

Regulation, forest, 200. 

Rent, soil, 213-217, 251, 464-465. 

Reproduction, 165, 169, 175-179, 

357- 
Reservations, forest, in India, 280, 
288 ; in Russia, 292-293 ; in the 
U.S., 340-34 2 . 3 60 . 4 OI -4 IJ . 4 8 9~ 



INDEX. 



517 



490; in New York State, 342, 
386-390; in Pennsylvania, 342, 
391 ; in Michigan, 392 ; in Cali- 
fornia, 397-398 ; in Canada, 468- 
470. 

Resources, exploitation of, 1-4 ; 
economy of, 6-10, 415 ; classifi- 
cation of, 10. 

Revenue from forests, 28-33, 2I2 ~ 
217, 220-222, 452-459; in Ger- 
many, 48-50, 132-136, 325-329; 
in India, 115, 285-287; in the 
U.S., 422-430. 

Revolution (in forestry), no. 

Ribbentrop, quoted, 114, 279. 

Rides, fire, 193-194, 222. 

Roads, improvement of, 9; use of, 
in forestry, 172, 464-465. 

Rocky Mountain forests, 332-333, 
358-360, 363. 

Roman law, of property, 4, 20, 235 ; 
on forests, 58. 

Rome, ancient, forestry in, 91. 

Root, development of, 153-154, 
185-186. 

Rotation, 102, no, 208-213. 

Rothrock, Dr., 391. 

Roumania, forest policy of, 294. 

Russia, forest policy of, 291-294; 
meteorology in, 442; forest rev- 
enue in, 455. 

Saginaw Valley, lumber produc- 
tion in, 374. 
St. Petersburg, forest institute at, 

293- 
Salary of foresters in India, 287. 
Sands, shifting, in France, 77, 277 ; 

in Russia, 292; in the U.S., 

368. 
Sanitary influence of forests, 77-79. 
Saunders, Dr. W., 469. 
Sawing, waste in, 41, 419-420. 
Saxony, wood production in, 47-49, 

134-135 ; felling budget in, 204 ; 

forest conditions in, 304, 314, 316, 



318 ; forest revenue in, 328, 452- 
456 ; income tax in, 466. 

Scholarships, in forestry, 239-240. 

Schools of forestry, at Nancy, 63, 
277; in Germany, 237-238, 315, 
488; in the U.S., 238-239, 390- 
391, 399-400; at Cooper's Hill, 
289; at Dehra Dun, 289; in 
Russia, 293 ; in Austria, 295 ; at 
Vallombrosa, 297; at Zurich, 
298 ; in Japan, 330. 

Schubert, experiments of, 443. 

Schwappach, quoted, 48/*., 256, 491. 

Scotland, forest laws of, 83 n. 

Seed, character influencing distri- 
bution of species, 143, 145-146; 
reproduction by, 168-178. 

Selection system of clearing, 173- 
174, 217. 

Seligenstadt, forests of, 92. 

Sequoia, long life of, 146; immu- 
nity of, from fire, 187 ; sprouting 
of, 464. 

Series, felling, 223-226. 

Servitudes, 303-304. 

Severance felling, 224. 

Seymour, H., 386. 

Shelter wood, 175, 177. 

Ships, use of wood in, 24. 

Sicily, deforestation of, 12, 59. 

Silviculture, 101, 165-196, 227. 

Site, 156, 158. 

Smith, Adam, 62, 93, 275, 307. 

Smith, Hoke, 404. 

Snow, in forests, 74, 439, 444. 

Socialism, 232, 266-267. 

Society for the Promotion of Agri- 
culture, 370, 380. 

Society for the Protection of New 
Hampshire Forests, 385. 

Soft woods, defined, 348. 

Soil, as a resource, 13, 17-18 ; va- 
rieties of, 56, 156; relation of, to 
waterflow, 74-76 ; fertility of, 119- 
120, 183; absolute and relative, 
122-123, 2 43 _2 44; cost of, 126; 



5 i8 



INDEX. 



relation of, to species, 143 ; rent, 
213-217, 251, 464-465; tax, 465- 
467. 

Soudan, forestry in, 290. 

South, U.S., forests in, 353-356. 

South America, importation of 
wood by, 34. 

Species, distribution of, 141-149; 
in the U.S., 347~349» 481-483- 

Sponge theory, 72-73. 

Sport, influence of, 9, 346. 

Spruce, growth of, 160; use of, for 
paper pulp, 160, 423-424, 483. 

Stand, open and close, 89-90, 154- 
156, 180-182; pure and mixed, 
183; old and young, 201-203. 

Standard-coppice system, 179, 451. 

Starr, Rev. F., quoted, 375. 

State, relation of, to private enter- 
prise, 4-10, 14-20, 230-235 ; ad- 
ministration of forests by, 124, 
131-132, 138-139, 198, 206; edu- 
cational function of, 236-244; 
promotive methods of, 244-258; 
police function of, 258-267 ; own- 
ership of forests by, 269-273, 275- 
276, 280, 291-293, 295, 306, 310, 
340-342, 386-391, 395, 397-398, 
401-41 1. 

Statics, forestry, 214-222. 

Stations, forestry. See Experiment 
stations. 

Statistics, value of, 242-244, 471 ; 
of forest finance, 30-33, 125-127, 
132-138, 220, 287, 325-328, 452- 
459; of forest area, 35, 54, 334- 
341, 430-431 ; of wood consump- 
tion, 36-41, 51, 337-339. 4 1 6-429, 
475-480; of wood production, 

36-39. 47-5 2 . 349-350. 480-483; 
of forest reservations, 489-490. 
Sterility, caused by deforestation, 

59. 63. 
Steuben, Baron von, 382. 
Stock, normal, 129-131, 201-205; 

taxation of, 251-253, 465-467. 



Stock companies, 133. 

Strip method of reproduction, 174- 

175, 190. 
Stumpage, denned, 220 ft., 343 ; 

value in the U.S., 485-486. 
Substitutes for wood, 26-29, 4 21 - 
Subterraneous drainage, 19-20, 72, 

74-75. 444-447- 
Sugar, maple, 29-30. 
Sully, quoted, 17, 60. 
Supply and demand, 233-234, 242- 

243- 
Survey, forest, 206-207. 
Sustained yield, 199-222, 230, 259, 

3 2 4. 465. 

Swamps, danger from, 78-79. 

Sweden, forest policy of, 298-300. 

Switzerland, stations in, 63-64; for- 
est policy of, 270, 297-298. 

Syrup, maple, 30. 

Tanning, 28-29, 86, 424. 

Tariff on wood, 245, 253-258. 

Taungyas, 285. 

Taxation of woodlands, 245-253, 

378, 465-467- 
Teak, 282, 285. 
Temperate zones, 40. 
Temperature, effect of forests on, 

62-63, 66, 69, 434-437, 441-444; 
relation of, to growth, 141-142 
147. 
Terminology, forest, 81-85, 448- 

45o. 
Tharandt, forest academy at, 488. 
Thinnings, 179, 182, 193, 226. 
Thirty-years War, effect of, on 

forests, 93, 305-306. 
Ties, railroad, 23. 
Timber, as a resource, 11-12, 19; 

age of, 41, 43, 107, 355 ; size of, 

217-221. 
Timber culture acts, 246-247, 378- 

379. 403- 

Timber Trades Journal, quoted, 
298-299. 



INDEX. 



519 



Time element, in forestry, 101-102, 
106-110, 127-132, 198-199, 205, 
225, 230, 233-234, 241, 255-256, 

346. 

Tokio University, forest depart- 
ment of, 330. 

Torrents. See Floods. 

Transpiration, 77, 121, 437-438. 

Transportation, relation of, to ex- 
ploitation, 2-3, 257, 278-279, 372, 
374, 464-465 ; use of wood in, 24 ; 
expense of, 171-172; relation of, 
to wood prices, 458-459. 

Tree Planters' Manual, 382. 

Tree weeds, 43-44, 98, 160, 168, 210, 

347- 
Trusts, 133, 345. 
Tundras, 54-55, 142. 
Turnus, no. 
Twelve Tables, Laws of the, 58. 

United States, waste in, 2-3, 45, 
52-53 ; merchant marine of, 24 
n. ; consumption of wood in, 25, 
S 1 - 337-339. 420-423, 475-4S0; 
exportation of wood by, 34, 37, 
480-481 ; timber supply of, 38, 52, 

l^-yyi, 4 8 3-4 8 5'. forest termi- 
nology in, 84 ; rate of interest in, 
136 ; paternalism in , 232, 245-249 ; 
exhaustion of forests in, 234, 353, 
374-376, 479-480; education in, 
236-239, 390-391, 399-400; forest 
legislation in, 246-253, 263, 369- 
37°. 377. 3 8 4-4n; tariff legisla- 
tion in, 253, 258; forest area in, 
334-339.471-475; reservations in, 
340-342, 360, 401-411, 489-490; 
wealth of, 429-430; forest labor 
in, 450 ; importation of wood by, 
481 ; price of stumpage, 485-486. 

United States Bureau of Forestry, 
217-219, 248-249, 377, 381, 401, 
410. 

United States Chief Geographer, 
report of, 339, 363. 



United States Department of Agri- 
culture, 125, 374-375, 381. 
United States Geological Survey, 

33° «-~337. 34 1 - 35 8 . 3 60 - 4°5. 
409-411. 

United States Patent Office, 374-375. 

Universities, courses in forestry at, 

237-238, 315, 330, 390-391, 399- 

400. 

Vallombrosa, forestry school at, 

297. 
Valuation, forest, 213-222. 
Value production, maximum, 212. 
Vanderbilt estate, Biltmore, 238, 

399- 
Vermeule, 446. 
Vermont, forestry commission of, 

386. 
Vessels, wooden, 24. 
Virgin forests, waste in, 42-44, 98- 

99, 140- 141; harvest in, 46, 127- 

128 ; in the U.S., 339. 
Volume development, 155-164 ; 

maximum, 211-212. 

Wages of lumbermen, 50, 116-117, 

450- 
Ward, L. F., quoted, 266-267, 415. 
Warder, J. A., 376, 382. 
Washington, forests of, 361, 363. 
Waste of materials, 1-3, 28-29, 44- 

46; in sawing, 41, 419-420; in 

virgin forests, 42-44, 98-99, 140- 

141. 
Water, as a resource, n, 17-19; 

drinking, 79; in wood, 121. 
Waterflow, influence of forests on, 

61, 71-76, 90, 266, 276-277, 318- 

319, 342, 368. 
Waterways, state care of, 14-16. 
Wealth, 31 ; of the U.S., 429-430. 
Weeds, tree, 43-44, 98, 160, 168, 

210, 347. 
Weight of forest product, 157, 460. 
West, U.S., settlement of, 21 ; for- 



520 



INDEX. 



ests in, 33 2 ~333. 33 6 - 339~342, 357- 
364, 474-475; irrigation in, 342, 
447, 487 ; lores: legislation in, 

377-378. 
West Virginia, forest legislation in, 

394- 
Wind, 185-186, 224, 263, 439-444; 

effect of, on rain gauges, 432-433. 
Wind-breaks, 13, 70-71, 224, 440- 

44i. 45i- 
Wisconsin, deforestation of, 12; 

taxation of forests in, 252; wood- 
land area of, 336 72.-337 n. ; wood 
production in, 372 ; forestry move- 
ment in, 377 ; forest legislation in, 

393- 

Wollny, experiments of, 446. 

Wood, importance of, 21-26, 427; 
consumption of, 25, 36-41, 51, 
337-339. 416-429, 475-480; pulp, 



25, 27, 345, 421-424; substitutes 
for, 26-29, 4 21 '. growth of, 106- 
109; price of, 134-135. 138, 220, 
420, 456-459, 485-487; produc- 
tion rate ot, 159-164. 

Wood-lots, 116, 131, 198-199, 343, 
380, 451. 

Woodland, defined, 84. 

Wiirtemberg, forest policy of, 317- 
318, 321-322. 

YALE University, forestry school at, 

238, 399- 
Yield, sustained, 199-222, 230, 259, 

3 2 4. 465. 
Yield-tables, 159-164, 207-208, 218- 
220, 461-463. 

Zurich, forestry school at, 298; 
forest finance of, 324-326. 



Id 



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